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Russia should prepare for full-scale nuclear tests – defense minister

RT | November 5, 2025

Russia must prepare to conduct full-scale nuclear tests in response to US plans to restart nuclear weapons detonations, Defense Minister Andrey Belousov has said.

Attending a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Belousov told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow “must respond to Washington’s steps to ensure the security of Russia. It is expedient to start preparing for full-scale nuclear tests immediately.”

Putin responded by reiterating that Russia has long said it would adhere to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, provided other members do not violate the deal.

“If the US or other states party to the relevant treaty conduct such tests, then Russia will also be required to take appropriate retaliatory measures,” the president said.

Putin went on to instruct all relevant government agencies, including the Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry, to gather and analyse the necessary information on US plans to restart nuclear tests, before submitting proposals on “the possible commencement of work on preparing for nuclear weapons tests.”

Last week, US President Donald Trump ordered the Department of War to begin preparations for nuclear testing, claiming the US is “the only country that doesn’t test.”

Trump accused Russia and China of conducting “secret” nuclear explosions, although both Moscow and Beijing have refuted the allegations. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has also said the nuclear watchdog has no indication that either country has conducted any nuclear detonations.

Following Trump’s statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Moscow is still waiting for “clarifications from the American side” as to the full meaning of the US president’s comments.

November 5, 2025 Posted by | Militarism | , | Leave a comment

The enigma of Tusk and Nord Stream as original sin

By Lorenzo Maria Pacini | Strategic Culture Foundation | November 3, 2025

Do you remember Nord Stream 2? The story was discussed by the media for months and, after various accusations and assumptions, it ended with the bitter truth: an operation devised by Western powers, coordinating Kiev and London, to sabotage the energy channel and accuse Russia, thus discrediting it. Investigations were then launched, implicating several players, including Germany and Poland.

Now the story is back in the spotlight.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has clearly stated his position on the Nord Stream 2 sabotage, arguing that it is not “in Poland’s interest” to hand over to Germany the Ukrainian citizen detained in Warsaw and accused of participating in the explosion of the gas pipeline. But, above all, he reiterated that the real problem with Nord Stream 2 “is not that it was destroyed, but that it was built.” Excuse me? The prime minister must have had a little too much to drink before making his statements.

With these words, Tusk defined the Warsaw government’s position on the 2022 attack, attributed to men linked to Kiev, against the pipelines that carried Russian gas to Europe, particularly to Germany.

Although the operation had serious economic consequences for Berlin—with a sharp rise in gas prices and repercussions for the entire German economy—the Polish head of government was clear in his assessment of the events that took place in the Baltic Sea after the start of the SMO.

Just a few hours earlier, commenting on the extradition request for the citizen known to the press as Volodymyr Z. (Yes, that is his real name, which only makes the whole thing even more ridiculous), who is suspected of having participated in the attack and is currently detained in Poland, Tusk had stated: “It is certainly not in Poland’s interest to accuse or hand over this citizen to another country,” although the final decision will still be up to the judiciary.

Historically, Poland has always opposed the construction of gas pipelines from Russia, considering them instruments that have made Europe overly dependent on Moscow’s energy. “Russia, thanks to funding from some European states and German and Anglo-Dutch companies, has been able to build Nord Stream 2 against the vital interests not only of our countries but of the whole of Europe. There can be no ambiguity on this point,” Tusk stressed, with a critical reference to former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who in the past had accused Poland and the Baltic countries of bearing some of the responsibility for the war between Russia and Ukraine.

As for the Ukrainian suspected of sabotage, who was arrested in Poland at the end of September, a Polish court ruled on Monday that he must remain in custody for another 40 days while Germany’s extradition request based on a European arrest warrant is examined. According to German prosecutors, the man is a diver involved in a group of people suspected of chartering a yacht and placing explosives in gas pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm. The charges against him relate to conspiracy to carry out an attack with explosives and the crime of “unconstitutional sabotage.”

Political stability issues

The reason behind Tusk’s statements may be more profound. Germany’s leadership position in the EU is weakening, and the absence of cheap Russian gas is contributing significantly to this process. Poland can now more actively promote its own interests and impose its own vision of problem solving on Berlin, including the situation regarding the sabotage of Nord Stream.

Germany’s economic strength has long been based on cheap Russian/Soviet energy resources (mainly natural gas). Berlin’s refusal to purchase Russian gas has already led to a significant economic and industrial decline. This benefits Warsaw, as well as other major European powers, particularly the UK and France, in their efforts to curb German influence in the region. In essence, Warsaw is carrying out the will of its “senior European partners,” primarily London.

By defending the destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipelines and refusing to extradite Ukrainian citizens suspected of taking part in the attack to Germany, the Warsaw government seems to be legitimizing further sabotage operations, even on European territory, against infrastructure linked to Russia or to EU and NATO countries that have not yet cut off energy supplies from Moscow.

Donald Tusk’s statement is emblematic in this sense: “The problem with Nord Stream 2 is not that it was blown up, but that it was built.” Radosław Sikorski, too, had posted a message on X (“Thank you, United States”) after the explosion of the gas pipelines in September 2022, only to delete it later. More recently, he even publicly called on Ukrainians to destroy the Druzhba oil pipeline.

During a heated exchange with the Hungarian government, Sikorski also stated that Warsaw “cannot guarantee that an independent Polish court” would not order the arrest of Vladimir Putin if he were to fly over Poland to attend a meeting in Budapest. The ironic response from Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó was not long in coming: “Perhaps the same independent court that, on the orders of Prime Minister Tusk, refused to extradite the terrorist who blew up Nord Stream?” Sikorski’s reply was peremptory: he said he was “proud of the Polish court that ruled that sabotaging an invader is not a crime.” This statement is cause for concern, as the “invader” in question is Russia in Ukraine, not Poland or Hungary. If this legal principle were to be applied universally, Warsaw would end up justifying international chaos.

If the logic of the “Tusk-Sikorski Doctrine” were followed, any country accusing another of invasion could feel justified in striking its interests anywhere.

From this perspective, this doctrine would theoretically make actions against Israel, the United States, or other NATO members, all accused at various times of conducting invasions or occupations, “justifiable.” Poland itself, in fact, participated in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan alongside its Western allies.

Still according to this logic, would it even be permissible to sabotage the gas pipeline connecting Norway to Poland, which was inaugurated — curiously — on the same day that Nord Stream was destroyed, September 22, 2022? And, by analogy, should Islamist attacks against the United States, France, and the United Kingdom be considered “legitimate acts” in response to their military campaigns in the Arab world?

It should also be remembered that both Joe Biden and Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland had already announced the destruction of Nord Stream, which many observers interpreted as a possible indication of plans for sabotage that were never officially clarified.

Beyond speculation and paradoxes, the statements coming out of Warsaw appear highly dangerous, as they contribute to normalizing and even glorifying acts of terrorism, if carried out against Russian or pro-Russian targets, as well as sowing divisions among European countries themselves. Above all, they foreshadow disturbing scenarios in which new acts of sabotage could target strategic infrastructure in Europe, justified by the narrative of the ’war against the Russian invader’.

While Germany continues to support Ukraine militarily and financially, even at the cost of its own energy security, it is perhaps time to question the true nature of ’allies’ who, in the name of an ideological war, do not hesitate to compromise the interests of the entire continent.

It remains to be asked of Tusk, Sikorski, and their friends whether we can really continue to believe that refineries catch fire on their own and gas pipelines commit suicide at sea. All just “coincidences,” right?

November 5, 2025 Posted by | Economics, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

The myth of US peacemaking: Why Washington’s mediation in West Asia keeps crumbling

By Peiman Salehi | The Cradle | November 3, 2025

The US has long styled itself as a guarantor of peace and stability in West Asia while systematically undermining both. From the Oslo Accords to the Abraham Accords, Washington’s so-called peace initiatives have masked coercion as consensus.

These efforts consistently reinforce the regional status quo, prioritizing Israeli security over Palestinian sovereignty, and maintaining western hegemony over regional autonomy.

The collapse of another US-backed Gaza ceasefire, violated within days by renewed Israeli aggression, exposes the structural flaws in this diplomatic model. Rather than arbitrating peace, Washington serves as an enabler of conflict.

Its diplomacy rests on selective morality and strategic interest, not universal principles. The American insistence on brokering ceasefires while actively resupplying Tel Aviv’s military machinery makes a mockery of its so-called neutrality.

‘No legal basis under international law’ 

The recent joint letter by Iran, China, and Russia to the UN Secretary-General rejecting Washington’s attempt to reactivate the expired “snapback” mechanism under Resolution 2231 further lays bare the fissures between western powers and global legitimacy.

The mechanism, part of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal, formally expired on 18 October 2025. Yet, the US and its European partners are now attempting to revive sanctions via a legal instrument widely considered void.

Tehran’s rejection of the move, supported by Moscow and Beijing, signals a collective refusal to let Washington unilaterally interpret international law. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian affirmed in August that “China reaffirms its commitment to the peaceful resolution of Iran’s nuclear issue and opposes the invocation of the UN Security Council’s ‘snapback’ mechanism.”

His words echoed a broader conviction across the Global South that legitimacy can no longer be dictated by Washington’s will. Fifteen years ago, Beijing and Moscow joined western powers in imposing sanctions on Iran; today, they stand beside Tehran in open defiance of that same framework.

The world’s center of gravity is shifting from a unipolar order managed by Washington to a multipolar one defined by resistance to its dominance.

Economic multipolarity and the end of American centrality

Nowhere is the erosion of US dominance more visible than in East and Southeast Asia. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), once conceived as a Cold War neutral bloc, has evolved into a robust, self-sustaining economic engine. As reported by the Japan News in March 2024, ASEAN’s combined GDP now rivals that of Japan.

Following Washington’s 2017 withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the region coalesced around the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Even traditional US allies have joined. As Professor Amitav Acharya argues in ‘The End of American World Order,’ what is emerging is not anti-western, but post-western – a world in which regions increasingly manage their own affairs. Trump’s recent visit to East Asia highlighted Washington’s growing irrelevance in a region it once dominated.

Yet Washington continues to operate as though the post–Cold War era never ended. Its diplomats still speak the language of the “rules-based order,” even as its actions violate the very norms they claim to uphold.

The attempt to weaponize international law through the snapback mechanism mirrors its broader conduct in Gaza: mediation that enforces control rather than fosters compromise. When the US calls for restraint but resupplies Israel with weapons as civilian casualties rise, its moral authority collapses under its own contradictions.

As former US diplomat Chas Freeman once observed:

“Sadly, theories of coercion and plans to use military means to impose our will on other nations have for some time squeezed out serious consideration of diplomacy as an alternative to the use of force. Diplomacy is more than saying ‘nice doggie’ till you can find a rock … The weapons of diplomats are words and their power is their persuasiveness.”

This transition from persuasion to pressure has degraded Washington’s credibility. US diplomacy increasingly resembles an extension of Pentagon strategy – a negotiation backed by bombs, not by principle.

And this is not limited to Gaza or Iran. From Venezuela to North Korea, from Syria to China, Washington’s diplomatic strategy hinges on threats, sanctions, and military posturing. The soft power myth has dissolved under the weight of decades of failed interventions.

A cultural and philosophical disconnect

Western liberalism, historically presented as a universal framework for progress, falters in regions like West Asia, where faith and justice are intertwined. As even Francis Fukuyama – the American political scientist best known for declaring the “end of history” at the Cold War’s close – himself conceded, liberalism is not a universal fit. For Iran and much of West Asia, peace cannot be reduced to the absence of war or bought through economic incentives. It must arise from justice, dignity, and recognition.

This is the blind spot of every US-brokered deal: the failure to grasp that sovereignty and moral legitimacy cannot be negotiated away. The more Washington pressures regional actors into conformity, the more resistance solidifies into a collective identity.

Tehran’s approach reflects this new reality. Rather than reacting impulsively to western provocations, Iran has adopted a hybrid posture combining strategic deterrence with selective diplomacy. Its partnership with Moscow and Beijing is not an alliance of convenience but of conviction – a shared rejection of a system where power masquerades as principle.

In the wake of the failed snapback, Tehran has deepened energy and transport cooperation through the North–South Corridor while maintaining calibrated dialogue with regional states seeking stability beyond US patronage.

The existential failure of US diplomacy

Unlike in previous decades, Iran is no longer isolated. It now commands a regional network of partnerships that reflect mutual interests rather than asymmetric dependencies. From Iraq to Central Asia, Tehran’s outreach has become a model for post-western engagement.

Meanwhile, the Gaza ceasefire serves as a grim mirror of Washington’s diplomatic decay. Within 48 hours of its declaration, Israeli airstrikes resumed under the pretext of “pre-emptive defense,” and the White House responded with silence. For the Arab and Muslim world, this silence is deafening and an unmistakable confirmation that American mediation is designed to manage violence, not end it.

The myth of the western peacemaker has endured because it served both sides: it offered Washington moral legitimacy and offered local elites a pretext for inaction. But that myth is now collapsing under the weight of its contradictions.

A world divided between moral resistance and strategic cynicism cannot be reconciled through the language of “balance.” It demands a new moral vocabulary – one that acknowledges power but subordinates it to justice.

The failure of US mediation in West Asia is therefore not tactical but existential. It stems from a worldview that confuses control with order and influence with peace. Until Washington accepts that peace cannot be engineered through dominance, its diplomacy will remain what it has always been: an empire’s negotiation with its own illusions.

November 4, 2025 Posted by | Aletho News | , , , , | Leave a comment

Iraq links disarmament of resistance groups to US withdrawal amid Washington’s threats

Press TV – November 4, 2025

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has declared that resistance groups will only disarm once US forces leave the country, reaffirming plans for a full coalition withdrawal by 2026 amid threats from Washington.

Sudani emphasized Monday that a plan is still in place to have foreign forces purportedly fighting Daesh completely leave Iraq by September 2026 because the threat from terrorist groups have eased considerably.

“There is no Daesh. Security and stability? Thank God it’s there … so give me the excuse for the presence of 86 states (in a coalition),” he said, referring to the number of countries that have participated in the “coalition” since it was formed in 2014.

“Then, for sure there will be a clear program to end any arms outside of state institutions. This is the demand of all,” Reuters quoted him as saying, noting that factions could enter official security forces or get into politics by laying down their arms.

Washington wants Sudani to disband resistance groups affiliated with the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of anti-terror factions that has been formally integrated into Iraqi government forces.

Sudani’s remarks came as Iraqi Defense Minister Thabit al-Abbasi revealed that the United States has delivered its “final” and “most serious” warning to Iraq concerning the activities of resistance factions in the country.

In an interview over the weekend, Abbasi said that Washington’s latest message “concerns armed factions and includes a direct threat in the event that those factions carry out any operations in response to what Washington intends to do in the region near Iraq in the coming days.”

He explained that the warning was conveyed during a phone call with US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, adding that Hegseth concluded the conversation by saying, “This is your final warning… and you know very well how the current administration will respond.”

US President Donald Trump recently appointed a supporter of his 2024 presidential campaign—who has no government experience and previously ran only a chain of marijuana dispensaries—as his administration’s new special envoy to Iraq to help “advance the interests” of the United States.

In his fist official statement published on his X account last week, Mark Savaya said his mission is to help Iraq shun resistance groups and free it from what it called “external interference”.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said during a press conference on Monday that Tehran views recent US threats as an attempt to interfere in Iraq’s domestic affairs, particularly ahead of its elections.

“In this context, we consider these threats a form of interference in Iraq’s internal affairs, especially as they are made on the eve of elections with the aim of creating tension and influencing the internal processes of an independent country,” Baghaei said.

He noted that such threats violate the principles of national sovereignty and respect for Iraq’s independence, reflecting the “interventionist and aggressive nature” of the United States.

Baghaei underscored that “these actions and attempts to create tension will have no impact on the determination of the Iraqi people, who are resolved to decide and act based on what they deem beneficial for their nation’s security and interests.”

Washington and Baghdad have agreed on a phased withdrawal of US forces, with a full withdrawal expected by the end of 2026. The initial withdrawal of troops began in 2025.

“Iraq is clear in its stances to maintain security and stability and that state institutions have the decision over war and peace, and that no side can pull Iraq to war or conflict,” said Sudani in the interview.

November 4, 2025 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , , | Leave a comment

Why Invading Venezuela Won’t Be a Walk in the Park

Neoconservative strategists aren’t talking about the day after…

José Niño Unfiltered | November 3, 2025

As American warships patrol Caribbean waters and F-35 fighters prowl Venezuelan airspace, hawkish voices in Washington paint an enticing picture: A swift military operation to topple Nicolás Maduro, similar to the easy interventions in Grenada (1983) and Panama (1989). It’s a dangerous fantasy that ignores three decades of failed Venezuelan policy and fundamentally misunderstands the catastrophic difference between those brief police actions and what a Venezuela invasion would entail.

The comparison is essentially that of a neighborhood skirmish to a regional war. Venezuela is roughly 2,650 times larger than Grenada and 12 times larger than Panama, with 243 times more people than Grenada and 12 times more than Panama. The appropriate historical parallels aren’t Grenada or Panama—they’re Iraq and Afghanistan, multi-trillion-dollar quagmires that killed thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of civilians while advancing no genuine U.S. interests.

What regime change boosters consistently ignore is what happens the day after Maduro falls. They focus obsessively on knocking out Venezuela’s conventional military—no walk in the park, but an attainable feat—while studiously avoiding the nightmare that follows: A multi-factional civil war among heavily armed irregular forces, refugee flows dwarfing the current crisis, and a protracted insurgency that could justify further U.S. intervention and spiral into a broader conflict that could attract irregular leftist forces from the region.

As far as historical analogues are concerned, Grenada was a tiny 344-square-kilometer volcanic island—smaller than many American cities. Despite hilly terrain, the entire country could be secured quickly because of its minuscule size. Panama at 75,420 square kilometers was larger but still a narrow isthmus focused around the Canal Zone, where U.S. forces already had extensive military presence and insider knowledge based on decades of American influence in Panama.

Venezuela covers 912,050 square kilometers—featuring the Andes mountains in the west, vast central plains (llanos), dense Amazon jungle in the south, and 2,800 kilometers of Caribbean coastline. This geographic complexity creates countless opportunities for asymmetric warfare, with mountainous terrain favoring defensive operations, urban centers ideal for guerrilla resistance, and jungle regions providing sanctuary for irregular forces.

Unlike Panama where U.S. forces had extensive familiarity from decades of base presence, or Grenada, where the entire operational theater was one small island, Venezuela’s diverse terrain would require controlling vast territories to prevent insurgent sanctuaries. U.S. military planners have no established presence, no intimate geographic knowledge, and would face the same challenges that gave American forces fits in Afghanistan’s mountains, Iraq’s urban centers, and Vietnam’s jungles.

Venezuela hosts one of the most complex networks of armed non-state actors in the Western Hemisphere. Start with the colectivos—far-left paramilitary groups numbering 8,000 individuals operating in 16 states and controlling approximately 10 percent of Venezuelan cities. These aren’t poorly armed street gangs; they possess AK-47s, submachine guns, fragmentation grenades, and tear gas—much of it supplied directly by the Venezuelan government.

Colombian guerrilla organizations have also established a significant presence on Venezuelan territory. The National Liberation Army (ELN) maintains operations in 13 Venezuelan states. According to a report by Colombian media outlet Connectas, the ELN has armed cells in roughly 10 percent of Venezuela’s more than 300 municipalities. The group controls territory in the Venezuelan states of Zulia, Táchira, Apure, and Amazonas—the four states bordering Colombia—and also operates in Barinas, Bolívar, and Delta Amacuro, with a presence of roughly 1,000 fighters in Venezuela and 6,000 members in total.

Segunda Marquetalia, dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) who rejected Colombia’s peace accords, operates with an estimated 1,000 members. Other FARC dissident factions add approximately 2,000 more fighters. These groups maintain Marxist-Leninist, anti-imperialist ideologies and view the United States as the primary threat to revolutionary movements. Combined, these irregular forces are in the tens of thousands with substantial weapons, territorial control, and operational experience.

It should be stressed that Venezuela’s official military doctrine has been explicitly designed around asymmetric warfare against a hypothetical U.S. invasion since the Chávez era. The strategy assumes initial conventional defeat followed by sustained guerrilla resistance—making occupation costly and politically unsustainable.

Nevertheless, Venezuela won’t just roll over without a conventional fight. Venezuela is the number one purchaser of Russian weaponry in Latin America. It boasts mobile Russian S-300VM and Buk-M2E air defense systems (described as “by far the most formidable in Latin America” by Military Watch Magazine) and KH-31 anti-ship missiles. Additionally, Venezuela boasts 24 Su-30MK2V Flanker fighters (approximately 21 operational) capable of carrying anti-ship missiles and critically, components of Russia’s C4ISR system—integrated digital warfare networks previously shared only with Belarus.

Most significantly, Russia signed a comprehensive 10-year strategic partnership with Venezuela in May 2025, ratified in October 2025, covering more than 350 bilateral agreements on security, defense, and technology. Russian cargo aircraft have recently been landing in Caracas with additional military supplies. In October 2025, Maduro requested Russian assistance enhancing air defenses, restoring Su-30 aircraft, and acquiring missiles. The Iranians have also cooperated with Venezuela on the development of drone technology and sanctions evasion assistance.

This great power backing has no parallel in Grenada (where Soviet/Cuban support was minimal during the invasion) or Panama (where Manuel Noriega’s late attempts to seek Cuban/Nicaraguan support proved futile against American forces.

The ultimate challenge for the United States comes the day after when Venezuelan forces, colectivos, militias, and allied guerrilla groups retreat to mountainous regions, jungles, and southern plains. From there, armed groups would be able to conduct asymmetric attacks on U.S. forces and any post-Maduro government, creating multiple overlapping resistance movements.

A 2019 U.S. Army analysis concluded Venezuela presents a “Black Swan” hot spot significantly more complex than the 1989 Panama operation, noting Venezuela has “115,000 troops, in addition to tanks and fighter jets” and “thirty million people, about 20 percent of whom still support the Maduro government,” with leaders having “been preparing for asymmetrical warfare for more than a decade.” In contrast, the study noted that “[Manuel] Noriega’s Panama had only fifteen thousand troops—of which, only 3,500 were soldiers.” The study highlighted that “there is no chance that countries in the region would participate in an effort to topple Maduro.”

It’s also worth noting that Cuba has deep penetration of Venezuela’s security apparatus through secret agreements signed in May 2008 that “gave Cuba vast access to the Venezuelan military and wide freedom to spy on and reform it,” according to the Havana Times. Approximately 5,600 Cuban personnel work in Venezuelan security sectors, including 500 active Cuban military advisors. Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) has been described as “almost a branch of the G2—the Cuban secret service—in Venezuela.”

This integration helps explain Venezuelan military loyalty despite economic collapse and has proved key in protecting the South American nation from U.S. covert operations. The Cuban intelligence network provides early warning of dissent and mechanisms for neutralizing opposition forces and other fifth columnists. For U.S. planners, any intervention would effectively fight not just Venezuela’s military but Cuba’s sophisticated intelligence apparatus with decades of experience countering U.S. operations.

Before contemplating another Latin American adventure, Washington should review its track record. Historian John H. Coatsworth documented that from 1898-1994, the United States intervened to change Latin American governments at least 41 times across 100 years, averaging once every 28 months.

The results? The 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion failed catastrophically, strengthening Fidel Castro. The 1980s Contra War in Nicaragua killed approximately 30,000 Nicaraguans, yet Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who lost the presidency in 1990, eventually returned to power in 2007. Ortega has currently ruled as an authoritarian president, exactly what the United States tried to prevent through the proxy war it facilitated during the Reagan era.

Beyond Latin America, the United States’ second invasion of Iraq cost over $2 trillion and killed 4,500 U.S. troops while creating conditions for the rise of ISIS and rival Shiite militias across the nation. The United States’ nation-building experiment in Afghanistan cost $2.3 trillion and killed 2,461 U.S. troops, only to see the Taliban return to power after 20 years.

Perhaps most striking is how overwhelmingly Venezuelans themselves reject foreign military intervention. September 2025 polling found 93 percent of Venezuelans oppose foreign military intervention, with only 5 percent supporting it. October 2025 polling showed this increased to 94 percent opposition.

This creates a paradox: Polling demonstrates 64 percent to 90 percent of Venezuelans wanting some form of democratic transition yet 93 percent to 94 percent reject foreign military intervention. When presented with peaceful alternatives, 63 percent have supported a negotiated settlement to remove Maduro, making negotiation by far the most popular option.

The Venezuelan opposition itself is deeply divided, with prominent figures like two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles—who remains in Venezuela—explicitly rejecting intervention. “Most people who want a military solution and a US invasion do not live in Venezuela. They don’t even understand the consequences of it,” Capriles said in an interview with the BBC. In an interview with The New York Times, he posed a pointed question: “Name one successful case in the last few years of a successful U.S. military intervention.”

As far as stateside is concerned, 62 percent of Americans also oppose invading Venezuela, with only 16 percent supporting such action, per YouGov polling.

Here’s what neoconservatives don’t discuss: Knocking out Venezuela’s conventional military is attainable. U.S. technological superiority would likely produce a relatively swift conventional victory. But then what?

A decapitation strike removing Maduro wouldn’t stabilize Venezuela—it would detonate it. Consider the armed actors positioned to fill the vacuum such as the colectivos with heavy weapons controlling urban neighborhoods; ELN fighters with decades of guerrilla experience; Segunda Marquetalia combatants; thousands of other FARC dissidents; and remnants of defeated military units retreating to mountains and jungles.

The result will likely be a multi-factional civil war. Various armed groups would compete over oil, gold, and minerals. Colectivos would defend urban territory. ELN and FARC dissidents would establish rural sanctuaries. Criminal organizations would exploit the ensuing chaos. The 20 percent of Venezuelans supporting Maduro ideologically would provide a substantial resistance base.

Such a conflict would trigger a massive refugee crisis. Venezuela has already had nearly 8 million people flee since 2015. Military intervention triggering civil war could produce millions more refugees, destabilizing Colombia, Brazil, Trinidad, Guyana, and the entire Caribbean basin. Moreover, many of these refugees would wash up on American shores—a prospect Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his cheap labor-addicted Republican cohorts in Florida would embrace with open arms.

Any U.S.-backed government would face prolonged insurgency, requiring sustained American military occupation, not the swift operation regime change boosters promise, but years or decades of counterinsurgency. Ironically, this could be dangerous even for María Corina Machado or whatever U.S. puppet is installed, as pro-regime forces remain heavily armed and motivated, while countless other militants will start carving out their own statelets nationwide. Not exactly an ideal climate for a prospective U.S. client regime to operate in.

Perhaps most underestimated would be backlash among Latin America’s radical Left. Since the end of the Cold War, leftist movements have been relatively pacified because the United States hasn’t taken direct, kinetic action in the regime. But when Marines enter the mix, this will galvanize nationalist sentiment throughout the region.

The ELN maintains strong ideological affinity with Venezuela’s state ideology of Chavismo and sees itself leading the struggle against American imperialism. Colombian guerrillas already recruit Venezuelans. U.S. intervention would dramatically accelerate recruitment. One could see foreign fighters form international brigades to fight American forces and the puppet government they try to prop up.

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro already condemned U.S. strikes as “acts of tyranny.” Full-scale invasion would trigger denunciations across the region, breathe new life into dormant anti-American movements, and create a generation of Latin American leftists radicalized by direct confrontation with U.S. military power. External actors like Iran, Russia, and China—who all have their own set of grievances with the United States—would pounce on this chaotic environment to further inflame tensions and poke Uncle Sam in the eye.

Comparing Venezuela to Grenada or Panama is fundamentally misleading propaganda. Those were brief police actions against micro-states in political chaos with minimal armed opposition, limited territory, no great power backing, and some regional support.

After 30 years of escalating intervention—coups, sanctions, economic warfare—Maduro remains in power while Venezuela has deepened ties with Russia, China, and Iran. The humanitarian crisis has worsened. Multiple coup attempts strengthened authoritarian control.

The historical record is unambiguous: U.S. military interventions consistently fail to achieve stated objectives. Initial conventional victories give way to protracted insurgencies, state collapse, refugee crises, and strategic disasters costing trillions. Venezuela would be worse because of its size, geography, complex array of armed actors, ideological polarization, and strategic importance to U.S. adversaries such as Russia, China, and Iran, who are all itching to get back at the United States.

Neoconservative strategists are engaging in dangerous wishful thinking. They promise a swift operation followed by grateful Venezuelans welcoming democracy. Reality would be years of counterinsurgency, multi-factional civil war, massive refugee flows, regional destabilization, and a strategic quagmire.

Invading Venezuela won’t be a walk in the park. It would be a quagmire defining American foreign policy for a generation. After 30 years of failure, perhaps it’s time to try something radically different: Diplomacy, engagement, and respect for sovereignty. The alternative is catastrophe, something Donald Trump’s “America First” movement never voted for.

November 4, 2025 Posted by | Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

US military buildup in Caribbean aimed at regime change in Cuba: FP

Al Mayadeen | November 4, 2025

With the largest US military concentration in the Caribbean since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, a new Foreign Policy (FP) report warns that Washington’s announced campaign against narcotics trafficking in the region masks a far broader strategic objective.

The removal of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and, by extension, pressure on Cuba by cutting off Venezuelan oil supplies.

The report says roughly 10 naval vessels and some 10,000 troops, including a carrier strike group led by the USS Gerald R. Ford and elements of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, are now positioned in the region, a posture that raises the prospect of direct military action against Venezuelan government targets and carries grave implications for Havana.

It is worth mentioning that the White House has framed recent operations as an intensification of counter-narcotics efforts, with senior US officials labelling traffickers as foreign terrorists and authorizing strikes on vessels alleged to be part of the trade.

Foreign Policy argues, the campaign’s political logic extends beyond drugs; the removal of Maduro would, in this account, enable a US policy aimed at severing Caracas’s lifeline to Havana and thereby accelerating a long-standing Republican objective of overthrowing the Cuban state.

“We are going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country, OK? We are going to kill them,” the report quotes President Donald Trump as saying, adding that “The land is going to be next.”

US posture and military options

Foreign Policy highlights the presence of elite US units offshore and suggests a range of possible options available to Washington.

From intensified covert activity and targeted raids to airstrikes intended to coerce elements of the Venezuelan military. The report deems a full-scale invasion unlikely, arguing that occupation and nation-building contradict current political messaging, but it emphasizes that options short of occupation, targeted strikes, special operations, or efforts to catalyze a military coup would still produce extensive human and regional costs.

Venezuelan forces, the report stresses, have adapted doctrines to contest conventional assault by dispersing and employing asymmetric strategies, measures supported by Cuban advisers and reinforced by the presence of seasoned Colombian guerrilla units operating inside Venezuela. Those forces, FP reports, may constitute a counterbalance to US plots for regime change.

The Cuban dimension: Vulnerability and resilience

Cuba has long been Caracas’s closest regional partner, receiving subsidised oil in exchange for medical and technical personnel. Foreign Policy traces that relationship back to 1998.

At its peak, Cuba received more than 100,000 barrels per day; by 2024 shipments had declined to figures as low as 32,000 bpd and even less this year, the report claims.

The article argues, however, that while the loss of Venezuelan oil would damage an already stressed Cuban economy, political collapse is not inevitable. The Cuban government, the report notes, has withstood decades of pressure and possesses internal security mechanisms that have neutralized US-backed organizations and “regime-change” programmes in the past.

As Foreign Policy cautions, economic collapse may deepen civilian suffering without producing the political opening Washington’s hawks imagine.

Regional reaction and legal concerns

Foreign Policy records significant international unease. Human rights bodies and major NGOs have criticised US strikes and tactics as legally problematic, and several Latin American leaders, including Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum and Colombia’s Gustavo Petro, have protested the escalation.

The report warns that aggressive US military action will accelerate a political and strategic shift in the region toward alternative partners, notably China, and will undermine Washington’s cooperation with governments it needs for drug interdiction and other security tasks.

The report paints a scenario in which US policymakers, driven by a combination of electoral politics and long-standing ideological goals, central among them Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s avowed ambition to rollback Cuba’s revolution, misread both the durability of the Maduro regime and the resilience of Cuba’s political order.

Cutting off Venezuelan oil, Foreign Policy argues, is unlikely to precipitate the rapid collapse of Cuba.

November 4, 2025 Posted by | Militarism | , , | Leave a comment

Palestine Genocide

By Richard Hugus | November 3, 2025

“To Zionists everywhere— you do not have a PR problem that can be solved with more branding campaigns and lies and propaganda. You have a forever problem, because you will never recover from this. Your depravity, unfathomable to normal humans, will be dismantled one way or another. Your fake identity will be exposed to all for the historic fraud that it is. You are the pariahs and parasites on this earth, and the world is finally waking up to this truth. Never has humanity witnessed such explicit and breathtaking evil.” — Susan Abulhawa

(See Susan Abulhawa’s December 2024 speech at Oxford Union here.)

Now past two years of explicit genocide in Gaza, the Zionist state seems intent on creating a new reality for the world – one in which there is no longer a moral order. As “the chosen people” Zionists feel entitled to do what has always been forbidden. For all the world to see, they kill women and children, bomb hospitals, bomb homes and neighborhoods, bomb the tents which people were then forced to live in, withhold food from people they have already starved, assassinate leaders, destroy sanitation infrastructure and water supplies, destroy farmland and olive trees, shoot fishermen, murder journalists, demolish homes with bulldozers, torture and execute prisoners, use people as human shields, snipe children, agree to ceasefires but continue bombing, and more.

October 7, 2023 was the Zionists’ excuse to do openly what they had been doing less openly for the previous 75 years – attempting to get rid of the Palestinian population and steal their land, and then the land of neighboring countries, starting with Lebanon and Syria. In a July 2024 speech to his craven representatives in the US Congress, Benjamin Netanyahu claimed to be defending civilization from barbarism, when in fact the Zionist state was and is busy returning civilization to barbarism. Aside from outright lies, Zionist propaganda is always marked by projection – accusing others of what it is doing, and inversion – turning the truth upside down.

One form of inversion is taking whatever is considered good and doing the opposite. Sabbatai Zevi, who declared himself the Jewish messiah in Smyrna in 1666, taught that doing things considered sinful actually led to redemption. Zevi was supposedly reincarnated fifty years after his death in the person of Jacob Frank in Poland, who went on to create the cult of Sabbatean Frankism. These men are considered apostates by the Jewish mainstream, but their insane messianism has strong reflections in the outlook of men like Benjamin Netanyahu, Itamar Ben Gvir, and Belazel Smotrich today, who have the backing of most of Israeli society. They believe that anything they do to the Palestinians, or “human animals” as former defense minister Yoav Gallant called them, is justified. There are no bounds, no rules, no limits.

One wonders where the Zionist project got the power to thumb its nose at a world horrified and outraged by its crimes. The resources backing up this project are immense and go far beyond the borders of the Zionist entity. “Israel” has always been, if not the centerpiece, at least an important part of the push for a “new world order.” The idea of the Novus Ordo Seclorum began in the late 18th century with Meyer Amschel Rothschild and his financial backing of both Adam Weishaupt’s Illuminati and Jacob Frank’s cult of transgression. Today it is backed by new controlling powers – central bankers, powerful families that own the banks, secret societies, oligarchs, hedge fund managers, intelligence agencies, the Pentagon, defense contractors, predatory philanthropists, subversive NGOs, subversive political fronts, the UN and World Health Organization, the World Economic Forum, bought national governments, and the agents who staff those governments, from President to bureaucrat. Zionist power controls banking, media, and government in the United States. It had the power to kill the Kennedys, carry out the 9-11 attacks, foment war against its enemies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Sudan, and Iran, and get away with all of it. It has the power to drop bombs which kill a hundred or more Palestinians a day, while telling the world Israelis were the victims.

It would be a mistake to believe this all comes from one small country. This is a global project, and degrading the human race through humiliation, watching Palestine being beaten mercilessly day after day, year after year, seems to be a part of it. Zionism is not only getting away with genocide, it is forcing everyone else to witness it, and each day that goes by without meaningful action to stop it, our humanity is diminished. What we might call the forefathers of Zionism – Sabbatai Zevi and Jacob Frank — aimed to gain control of the world through depravity, through deception, through appalling subversion of the moral order. The world will react to this, and soon, just when the forces behind this monstrosity think they have achieved success.

November 3, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Michigan Bill Would Protect Parents Who Seek Second Medical Opinion for Kids

By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. | The Defender | November 3, 2025

A bill introduced in Michigan would protect parents’ rights to seek a second opinion for their children’s medical treatment by barring the state from holding parents liable for child neglect if they seek medical opinions from another physician or healthcare professional.

Under current Michigan law, authorities can hold parents liable for medical neglect if they refuse a healthcare provider’s recommended treatment, even if they are seeking a second opinion, according to The Hillsdalian.

However, House Bill 5163 states that parents or guardians do not commit child neglect if they refuse a recommended treatment while “actively seeking a second opinion” from another health professional.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Jennifer Wortz, a Republican, is pending before the House Committee on Families and Veterans. It has 14 co-sponsors, including some Democrats.

Wortz, who is in her first term, told The Defender that her bill is similar to laws currently in effect in Missouri and Texas.

She said she drafted the bill after her office received reports from two families who “have had allegations made against them, and filed and reported to CPS [Children’s Protective Services], because of seeking a second opinion.”

According to Wortz, one family has a daughter with a permanent cancer diagnosis. Physicians recommended radiation and chemotherapy, but the child’s parents sought a second opinion and chose a treatment plan that included dietary changes and supplements.

Wortz said “a large university hospital” reported those parents for neglect.

In another instance, physicians recommended removing a young boy’s appendix. The child’s parents sought two additional medical opinions and chose a course of antibiotic treatment, which “fixed the issue.” Yet the child’s initial physician reported the parents for neglect.

Wortz said state legislators were “shocked” to hear about incidents involving CPS and several examples of the government being weaponized “against good parents.” She said the failure of the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services in responding to CPS cases must be addressed.

“It’s really quite appalling to see where they’re failing to do their job, [and] these situations where it seems like a medical professional injects their personal opinion, whether that’s for financial gain, or just ego, that then these parents are targeted,” Wortz said.

CHD ‘opened my eyes’ to the importance of ‘seeking alternative opinions’

Wortz said she is working to get a version of the bill introduced in the Michigan Senate. Unlike the House, Democrats hold a majority in the state Senate.

“I’m hopeful that I can find a Democrat legislator on the Senate side that would be willing to take up this legislation as well, because that’s where we stand the best chance of this moving forward,” Wortz said.

Wortz said Children’s Health Defense (CHD) influenced her decision to introduce and support bills promoting medical freedom, including Michigan House Bill 4475, which she co-sponsored. Introduced in May, the bill would “prohibit discriminatory practices, policies, and customs” based on vaccination status.

CHD “opened my eyes and led me down a track of investigating and seeking alternative opinions other than just what your medical doctor tells you,” Wortz said. “I have four children myself, and when COVID-19 hit in 2020, the science and the numbers that they were telling us daily on the media just were not adding up to me.”

Texas, Missouri, England enacted policies protecting right to second opinion

According to the Family Justice Resource Center, Texas Senate Bill 1578 — signed into law in 2021 — lets parents accused of child abuse after questioning a recommended medical treatment obtain a second opinion from another physician.

Before the bill was passed, state lawmakers “heard from several parents who underwent a medically-based wrongful allegation of child abuse.”

A 1998 Missouri law requires health services corporations to “allow enrollees to seek a second medical opinion or consultation from a willing second physician” at no additional cost beyond what the enrollee would pay for an initial medical opinion or consultation from that second physician.

In 2015, lawmakers in Missouri proposed “Isaiah’s Law,” which would have protected parents and guardians from neglect charges when they sought a second opinion for their child’s treatment. The bill did not pass.

In England, “Martha’s rule” — in effect since 2024 — requires hospitals in the National Health Service (NHS) to let parents seek an urgent second clinical opinion from other experts at the same hospital if they have concerns about their current care, the BBC reported.

This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.

November 3, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties | , | Leave a comment

Seyed M. Marandi: Israel & Iran Prepare for War — ‘America First’ Says No to U.S. Intervention

Glenn Diesen | November 3, 2025

Seyed Mohammad Marandi is a professor at Tehran University and a former advisor to Iran’s Nuclear Negotiation Team. Prof. Marandi outlines how both Israel and Iran are preparing for the next war, and how the “America First” movement keeps distancing the US from Israel.

Follow Prof. Glenn Diesen: Substack: https://glenndiesen.substack.com/ X/Twitter: https://x.com/Glenn_Diesen Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/glenndiesen

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Books by Prof. Glenn Diesen: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B09FPQ4MDL

November 3, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Video | , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Israeli Pager Attacks, Ukraine Collapse, and the Tennessee Munitions Factory Explosion that Killed 16

By Conor Gallagher – naked capitalism – November 3, 2025 

On October 10, an explosion ripped through the Accurate Energetic Systems (AES) facility in Bucksnort, Tennessee, killing 16 workers and injuring at least four others.

Officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the National Center for Explosives Training and Research estimate that between 24,000 and 28,000 pounds of explosives detonated and leveled the 15,000-square-foot building. It was as if the facility had been hit by a fabled US MOAB or MOP bomb—two of the military’s heaviest non-nuclear bombs. 

In this post we’ll look at the immediate cause of the explosion, contributing factors, and how the explosion is an indictment of imperial America’s wars abroad and its social policy at home.

Immediate Cause

Here’s what we know so far based on comments from investigators. From The Nashville Tennessean :

Scientists as well as local and federal authorities say they’ve developed several hypotheses for what caused the deadly explosion at the rural munitions plant. But Jamey VanVliet, special agent in charge at the Nashville ATF office, did not say what those hypotheses were.

“I will not speculate on the cause of the explosion or comment on a potential cause, except to say at this point, there is no indication of a threat to public safety,” VanVliet said. He did say that the area of origin for the blast was on the lower floor production level of the pour cast building…

McCracken said the initial explosion happened in one of those production kettles.

“And then we believe that in addition to that, there was a sympathetic detonation of other explosive material stored on that main floor,” he said.

The building was used to manufacture cast booster used in commercial mining and military uses, McCracken explained.

“Commonly, they’re comprised of a mixture of TNT and RDX. (They) are the two explosive compounds combined together to make a cast booster,” McCracken said. “They’re the components mixed together, and then, by hand, they’re poured into a cardboard tube.”

Here is some relevance background on cast boosters, from the Big Chemical Encyclopedia:

An explosive booster is a sensitive explosive charge that acts as a bridge between a (relatively weak) conventional detonator and a low-sensitivity (but typically high-energy) explosive such as TNT. By itself, the initiating detonator would not deliver sufficient energy to set off the low-sensitivity charge. However, it detonates the primary charge (the booster), which then delivers an explosive shockwave that is sufficient to detonate the secondary, main, high-energy charge.

A common form for boosters is to cast the explosive material into a cylindrical shell made of cardboard or plastic; these are accordingly known as cast boosters.

​​Cast boosters are generally a 50/50 mix of TNT and PETN or RDX. The mixture is melted in a steam kettle and poured into molds to harden. Speaking strictly from a performance standpoint, cast boosters are often preferred over other booster products because of their high detonation pressures, insensitivity, water resistance, and ease of priming.

Contributing Factors

While we wait for the official cause, there are other details already available that helped make the explosion more likely.

TNT Shortages and Alternatives

The New York Times in a write up on the Tennessee disaster notes that TNT production in the US has for decades largely relied on foreign suppliers from China, Poland, Russia and Ukraine since the last U.S. government-owned factory in the country closed in the 1980s. Following the elevation of Project Ukraine to a hot war in 2022 and the scramble to arm both sides, as well as the US and allies fueling Israel’s genocide and other destruction projects in West Asia for the past two years, TNT has become more scarce, especially in the US.

If we go back to another piece in the Times on September 1, there’s  more detail on this shortage. It’s titled “Ukraine War Leads to Global Shortage of TNT.” But that’s not really accurate. It’s more of a shortage in the US and for US-aligned states in the New Cold War instigated by Washington:

A second and important source of supply for commercial use had been TNT recovered from munitions like land mines, shells and bombs that the Pentagon regularly decommissions. While the weapons were deemed too old for use by American troops, the explosives inside of them were typically still fully viable and could be recycled.

But according to officials in the civilian blasting industry, those sources have dried up as the U.S. military has elected to keep older weapons in its arsenal since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Poland had been the Pentagon’s sole authorized supplier of TNT. But it has been sending much of what it makes across its border to Ukraine, which is using all that it produces for its own military purposes.

That comes as two of the other main sources of TNT, Russia and China, have stopped exporting to the United States, the officials said.

Yes, nations typically will stop selling you explosives when you’re out to destroy them. Strategic thinkers in the US do not appear to have foreseen this possibility. A Reuters deep dive from 2024 details years of miscalculations that led the US to this current point in which it is scrambling to supply its wars. And the crap runs downhill.

The US, in response, has turned to other, riskier explosives manufacturing while simultaneously relaxing its usual lax oversight even further. Or as the New York Times puts it, “all of this has put pressure on U.S. weapons production.”

That pressure exploded in Bucksnort.

What did the US’ inability to arm its Ukraine proxy mean for AES? Some background:

AES is believed to be the primary U.S. manufacturer of TNT for artillery shells, although it is unclear how much of their TNT is sourced from overseas… Reports from February 2025 indicated that Russia was firing up to 10,000 shells a day, while Ukraine was firing approximately 2,000 shells daily.

Issues with 155mm shell production have been noted even before the current conflict. Between summer 2014 and fall 2015, the U.S. produced no shells due to manufacturing mismanagement. In 2021, defects were found in shells produced at an American facility. Over $100 million was reportedly spent on unsuccessful attempts to update the explosives used in Army shells, with materials sourced globally, including from China and areas in eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia.

Concerns about production facilities have also been raised. In Tennessee, a $147 million factory dedicated to explosives was found idle, while a Pennsylvania shell-casing factory, dating back to the Korean War, was operating with minimal upgrades. In Iowa, manufacturing flaws led to production line shutdowns. 

The PETN Connection

To make up for the shortage of TNT, the US is increasingly turning to pentaerythritol tetranitrate, or PETN. It is made by three factories in the United States, according to the Times. AES in Bucksnort produced PETN explosives—as well as HMX and RDX— according to an archived version of its website (since it has been partially scrubbed). Again from the Times :

The Accurate Energetic Systems website states that the company also produces several other types of explosives that are in high demand by governments and commercial industries. Those explosives include HMX, which is used in various types of ordnance; PETN, which is used in detonating cord and can also be used in the mining industry; and RDX, which is a main component of C-4 explosive blocks commonly used by the military.

PETN is more expensive and technologically complex to use compared to TNT. It’s also much more powerful:

Here’s some more background from Wikipedia:

[PETN] is rarely used alone in military operations due to its lower stability, but is primarily used in the main charges of plastic explosives (such as C4) along with other explosives (especially RDX), booster and bursting charges of small caliber ammunition, in upper charges of detonators in some land mines and shells, as the explosive core of detonation cord.[22][23] PETN is the least stable of the common military explosives, but can be stored without significant deterioration for longer than nitroglycerin or nitrocellulose.[24]

PETN is a secondary explosive, meaning it is more difficult to detonate than primary explosives, so dropping or igniting it will typically not cause an explosion (at standard atmospheric pressure it is difficult to ignite and burns vigorously), but is more sensitive to shock and friction than other secondary explosives such as TNT or tetryl.[17][21]

We don’t know for certain that PETN was involved in the explosion or how AES production and the makeup of its cast boosters was affected by the TNT shortage, but it’s safe to assume it had taken on a larger role. As reported by the Times, the US has increasingly turned to more PETN for military and commercial uses due to the difficulty in sourcing TNT.

What we do know about the explosion is that it occurred in one of the production kettles where explosives are combined to make a cast booster. And more PETN could have made an accident more likely due to its lower stability and sensitivity to shock and friction.

A 1989 explosion involving PETN at the Atlas Powder Company in Joplin, Missouri demonstrates the risks. Here’s the accident report from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration:

A plant was making pentolite, a class of explosive primer. Workers were mixing TNT and PETN in two kettles that were heated to about 212 degrees by hot water and steam. The flow of hot water slowed due to a pump malfunction, solidifying the TNT-PETN mixture in a pipe beneath one kettle. Employees #1 and #2 tried to remove the blockage with the pipe in place using hot water. This did not work, so the pipe containing the solid mix was removed and placed on the floor. One employee tried to pry the stoppage loose using a screw driver and a rawhide mallet. This caused the shock-sensitive TNT-PETN mixture to explode. The explosion killed two employees and injured two others.

PETN is also becoming more in demand in today’s age of “asymmetrical warfare.” From a recent India Today write up:

PETN is highly coveted for a range of uses, from industrial demolition to military applications—and, more disturbingly, as a weapon in terrorist attacks. Its adaptability allows it to be moulded into plastic explosives, easily concealed within everyday objects…

Objects like pagers:

Israeli intelligence, operating through [a shell corporation in Hungary called B.A.C. Consulting], produced for Hezbollah specially designed pagers containing batteries laced with small quantities of the explosive PETN, which is difficult to detect. The explosives were designed to detonate after a specific encrypted message was sent to them, activating an on-switch in the explosive charge. The actual explosion occurred shortly afterwards either by pager holders pressing two buttons manually with both of their hands to view the encrypted message or through a second activating message.

While Israel gifts golden pagers, the attack is being made into a feature film, and the Western media fawns over the “spectacular” “Bond-like” the fact such an “ingenuous” operation disfigured children is of course ignored:

According to the archived version of the AES website, it did offer “custom pelletized energetics tailored to meet the unique requirements of each customer,” but while the PETN used by Israel in this instance might not have been sourced from AES, it is at least symbolic of Israel’s major draw on the overstretched “Arsenal of Democracy.” 

The U.S. exports military explosives, including PETN, to allied countries and NATO members, and DataVagyanik notes that Israel increasingly uses PETN for a variety of weapons, including in micro-explosive arrays for unmanned aerial vehicles and this presents business opportunities for suppliers like AES: 

  • Israel is a global leader in developing cutting-edge military technologies, including precision-guided munitions and missile defense systems. PETN is frequently used in these advanced weapons due to its explosive power.

Business Opportunities:

  • Explosive Component Manufacturing: Israel’s defense industry requires high-quality explosive materials for its advanced munitions, providing opportunities for PETN suppliers to contribute to local production.

And as is well-known, Israel is largely dependent on the US for supplies to carry out its carnage and will be for the foreseeable future.The Israeli Ministry of Defense earlier this year signed a $275 million deal with Elbit System to, among other things, establish a new national factory for raw materials. Calcalist notes:

The new raw materials factory, to be built in southern Israel, will feature production lines for energetic materials required by all defense industries in the country. According to the Ministry of Defense, this facility is expected to reduce Israel’s reliance on imported raw materials—a critical vulnerability highlighted during the war that began 15 months ago. During that conflict, some countries restricted the export of weapons and key production components, underscoring the need for greater domestic production capabilities.

But that facility is still years away and won’t fulfill all the country’s substantial desire for explosives.

With a Genocide On and Demand Soaring, Production Outpaces Safety More Than Usual

As Military.com notes:

Most of America’s ammunition, propellants, and explosives are made there or by private firms like Accurate Energetic Systems… the explosion in Tennessee is part of a cycle the United States has repeated for more than a century. Each time national or global demand for weapons rises, production expands faster than oversight can. The risks shift from the battlefield to the factory floor.

And the AES plant was no stranger to safety issues. An explosion at the facility in 2014 killed one worker and injured four others. Buried at the bottom of a CNN report on the 2025 explosion (after the usual resiliency bromides) is the following history:

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the company $7,200 after a 2019 inspection found violations related to personal protective equipment, employee exposure to contaminants and inadequate safety training, among other citations. The company contested the findings and eventually reached a formal settlement, OSHA records show. 

Cost of doing business. More from WSWS :

… several employees suffered seizures for exposure to cyclonite (RDX), an explosive linked to nervous system damage. Residue was found on worktables and even in the break room, yet fines were quietly reduced to $7,200.

… just a year after [the 2019 violations], on October 30, 2020, there was a near-miss of a catastrophic explosion in the very same Melt-Pour building that exploded last Friday. According to an investigative report by the Daily Mail in the UK, maintenance supervisor Greg McRee was forced to put out a fire using only a garden hose to douse the flames shooting from an industrial chimney.

Had the flames spread to the boiler or ignited the stacks of canisters—high-energy primers used to set off bigger explosives in mining or demolition—“It would have leveled the building. Same thing that happened to the building the other day,” McRee told the Daily Mail. But instead of being rewarded, he was dismissed days later from his $28-an-hour supervisor job for “violating” company prohibitions against “fighting explosive fires.” 

The CNN piece concludes with a brief note on 26-year-old LaTeisha Mays who had worked at AES for less than a year and had raised several safety concerns about her job, and complained about getting nose bleeds at work. She needed to pay off her car before taking another job, though.

Hickman County, Tennessee—where the AES explosion took place—is one of the poorest areas in one the nation’s poorest states. Per capita income is $29,512 and more than 14 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. The US’ first TNT factory in decades, which is slated to come online in 2028 in Kentucky’s Muhlenberg County, is also going to a region starved for decent paying jobs with a poverty rate of 22 percent (compared to the 11 percent nationally).

And the local population and future workers are being signed up to take the risk so that mega weapons manufacturers can keep swimming in dough and the wars—largely driven by an attempt by the Western economic elite to remain on top—can continue. From military.com :

Since World War II, and especially after the Cold War, the Pentagon has shifted away from running its own munitions factories and instead contracts private companies to make most of its ammunition, explosives, and weapons. That shift gave the military flexibility to expand or cut production as needed, but it also pushed the risks of that work onto local communities.

Business as usual:

More so, imagine what the hundreds of millions going to AES to build weapons to maim and kill could have done for Hickman County put to other uses.

As Washington shovels a trillion dollars towards its war profiteering, the Bucksnort explosion is a reminder that it doesn’t just bring devastation abroad. But hey, the money is good for some:

November 3, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism | , | Leave a comment

AI-powered drones used in Gaza genocide monitor US cities: Report

Press TV – November 3, 2025

AI-powered quadcopter drones deployed by the Israeli regime’s armed forces to commit genocide in Gaza have been reportedly operating over American cities, surveiling protesters and automatically uploading millions of images to a centralized evidence database.

A report published by the Grayzone news outlet on Sunday reveals that AI-powered drones manufactured by a company called Skydio are monitoring the majority of cities in the US.

According to the report, Skydio provided the original drone models to the Israeli armed forces immediately after the regime launched its genocidal assault on Gaza on October 7, 2023, during which it killed at least 68,858 Palestinians and wounded 170,664 others, most of them women and children.

The Israeli regime extensively deployed the drones in its attacks on Palestinians, sending operational data back to Skydio to refine the technology.

Skydio maintains an office in the occupied Palestinian territories and partners with DefenSync, an Israeli military drone contractor that acts as an intermediary between drone manufacturers and the regime’s armed forces.

The company has also raised hundreds of millions of dollars from Israeli-American venture capitalists and funds extensive investments in the Occupied Lands.

Since 2023, Skydio has transformed from a relatively obscure startup into a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate and the largest drone manufacturer in the US.

The report states that Skydio now holds contracts with more than 800 law enforcement and security agencies across the country, up from 320 in March last year as its drones are being deployed hundreds of times daily to monitor citizens in towns and cities nationwide.

Nearly every major American city has signed a contract with Skydio in the past 18 months, including Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Diego, Cleveland, and Jacksonville.

In Miami, Skydio drones are reportedly being used to surveil protesters and students, while in Atlanta, the company has partnered with the Atlanta Police Foundation (APF) to establish a permanent drone station within the new Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, also known as the Cop City.

Detroit recently spent nearly $300,000 on 14 Skydio drones, according to a city procurement report.

A spokesperson for the New York Police Department (NYPD) recently told a drone news website that the NYPD launched more than 20,000 drone flights in less than a year, which translates to around 55 drone launches per day.

Last month, US Customs and Border Protection (ICE) purchased an X10D Skydio drone, which can automatically track and pursue a target. ICE has acquired 33 of these drones since July.

The AI system powering Skydio drones relies on Nvidia chips and allows them to operate without human control.

The drones are equipped with thermal imaging cameras and can function in GPS-denied environments. They can reconstruct buildings and other infrastructure in 3D and reach speeds of more than 30 miles per hour.

November 3, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , | Leave a comment

How Many Americans Killed by Israel? [Answer Will SHOCK You]

If Americans Knew

CJ Werleman is a journalist, author, and political commentator who has been published in Byline Times, TRT World, Middle East Eye. In this video he provides information on the many Americans he says that Israel has killed. Below is additional information on each.

RELATED INFORMATION:

November 2, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, False Flag Terrorism, Video, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Leave a comment

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