Declassified files expose secret Western support for Israeli assassinations
MEMO | May 16, 2025
Newly declassified documents have revealed that Western intelligence services secretly collaborated with Israel’s Mossad in the 1970s, providing critical intelligence that enabled the assassination of Palestinian activists across Europe, without any parliamentary oversight or democratic scrutiny. The revelation has fuelled concerns that similar clandestine intelligence-sharing arrangements are likely facilitating Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza today.
According to a detailed exposé by the Guardian, a covert network known as “Kilowatt”—comprising at least 18 Western intelligence agencies including those of the UK, US, France, and West Germany, was established in 1971 to share sensitive intelligence on Palestinian groups. The information shared included personal details, safe house locations, and vehicle registrations of Palestinian individuals who were subsequently targeted by Mossad hit squads.
Dr Aviva Guttmann, the historian who uncovered the encrypted cables in Swiss archives, confirmed that the intelligence shared was granular and critical to Israel’s covert killings, many of which took place in Paris, Rome, Athens, and Nicosia. “At the very beginning, perhaps officials were unaware of the extrajudicial assassinations, but later, they certainly knew and continued sharing intelligence,” Guttmann told the Guardian.
This covert support, the paper reported, operated entirely beyond the purview of elected officials, and would likely have triggered public outrage had it been exposed at the time. Indeed, some of those assassinated were publicly disputed as innocent, such as Wael Zwaiter, a Palestinian intellectual gunned down in Rome in 1972, whom Israel accused of being linked to the Black September Organisation. Evidence supporting such claims was largely based on intelligence fed through the Kilowatt system.
The revelations, while historical, have sparked urgent comparisons to the present day, where Israel is prosecuting what rights experts and genocide scholars widely describe as an ongoing genocide in Gaza, once again behind a wall of secrecy and political impunity.
Dr Guttmann herself underlined the relevance of these disclosures, warning that the shadowy practices of intelligence-sharing without political oversight remain largely unchanged: “International relations of the secret state are completely off the radar of politicians, parliaments, or the public. Even today, there will be a lot of information being shared about which we know absolutely nothing,” she stressed to the Guardian.
Critics argue that such secrecy underpins the UK’s and other Western states’ complicity in Israel’s Gaza genocide, which since October 2023 has killed over 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children. Despite the International Court of Justice opening a genocide case against Israel, British intelligence cooperation with Israeli agencies continues in the dark, with no democratic accountability or transparency. The UK government has also refused to clarify the purpose of more than 500 Royal Air Force surveillance flights over Gaza, raising fears these may be contributing to targeted killing.
US to Spend $1 Trillion on Nuclear Weapons Over Next Decade
By Kyle Anzalone | The Libertarian Institute | May 15, 2025
According to the Congressional Budget Office, Washington will spend $1 trillion from 2025 to 2034 on modernizing and operating America’s strategic arsenal.
“If carried out, DoD’s and DOE’s plans to operate, sustain, and modernize current nuclear forces and purchase new forces would cost a total of $946 billion over the 2025–2034 period, or an average of about $95 billion a year, CBO estimates,” the report says.
The spending includes $357 billion on operating nuclear weapons and delivery systems, $460 billion on modernization projects, and $130 billion in expected cost overruns. The CBO report notes that Pentagon plans often cost significantly more than projected.
The forecast in this year’s CBO report is $93 billion higher than the estimate produced last year.
“Weapons programs frequently cost more than originally budgeted amounts for a variety of reasons.” It continues, “If nuclear force programs exceeded planned amounts at roughly the same rates that costs for similar programs have grown in the past, they would cost an additional $129 billion over the next decade, $33 billion more over 10 years than CBO estimated in 2023.”
Washington is in the process of a major nuclear weapons upgrade. The US is developing a new bomber, an intercontinental ballistic missile, and a submarine capable of firing nuclear weapons.
The US nuclear buildup comes as Washington has walked away from several major arms control agreements with Russia since the end of the Cold War. Under George W. Bush, the US withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the INF and the Open Skies agreements during his first term.
During his second term, Trump has denounced nuclear weapons and suggested he could engage in talks with Russia and China on an agreement to reduce the global stockpile of nuclear arms.
However, Trump made similar remarks during his first term, but never seriously engaged in arms control talks with Beijing or Moscow. The only remaining nuclear arms agreement between the US and Russia, the New START Treaty, is scheduled to lapse next year.
Russia Calls Out US Over Ukraine Biolabs and Demands More Than Empty Words
Sputnik – 15.05.2025
MOSCOW – Russia remains open to contacts with the United States on the military biological program in Ukraine and hopes to remove concerns on this account, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
“We have repeatedly noted and repeat again that we remain open to bilateral contacts with the American side on this topic [military biological program in Ukraine] in order to eliminate relevant irritants. We expect Washington to take the necessary steps to address Russia’s concerns about US military biological activity,” Zakharova told a briefing.
Moscow considers US efforts to strengthen control over biological activities as a step in the right direction, Zakharova said, adding that the measures announced by Washington are not enough to address Russia’s concerns about the US military biological activities abroad.
Another Report on Israel’s Genocide. More Silence & Complicity From The Liberal West
By John J. Mearsheimer | May 11, 2025
The UN Human Rights Council has issued a lengthy report titled “Anatomy of a Genocide.” As the title indicates, it describes in detail the ongoing Israeli Genocide in Gaza.
Despite the abundance of evidence regarding Israel’s savagery, the liberal West not only does virtually nothing to stop it, but is actually complicit in the genocide.
Where are all those liberal academics, activists, journalists, and policymakers who have spent much of their adult life preaching about human rights and the virtues of the liberal international order? They are AWOL in the face of one of the great crimes of modern times.
Alex Lo, the distinguished columnist for The South China Morning Post, hits the nail on the head in his recent column, which is titled: “The Western World Has Already Dug Its Own Grave in Gaza War.”
He goes on to say: “By enabling Israel to unleash its genocidal impulse, most leaders of developed nations have crossed a moral red line that cannot be undone.”
The following three paragraphs from Lo are especially worth considering:
The most extraordinary censorship is being exercised across many Western countries, but especially in the United States and Germany, to silence anyone who tries to speak out what everyone already knows is going on in Palestine. It is no accident that the two countries that make the most of the Holocaust as universal civic education are the two countries that most actively enable a real-time genocide being committed and shown live on our computer screens and social media pages.
Silencing the victims’ cries so the killers can continue with the butchery, and criticism is considered racial hate speech against the killers and their apologists. Who does that?
The West cares more about the feelings of the butchers than the lives and limbs of victims. Western ‘civilisation’ now sounds like a contradiction in terms.
Ball’s in Trump’s Court, But Iran Won’t Bow to US Pressure
By Ekaterina Blinova – Sputnik – 15.05.2025
There is a good possibility of a US-Iranian deal, Mohammad Marandi, a Tehran University professor who was on Iran’s team during the 2015 nuclear talks, tells Sputnik.
Marandi stresses, however, that Tehran won’t accept any agreement that infringes on the nation’s sovereignty.
Reduced, Not Suspended, Enrichment
“The reason why [Iran is] enriching uranium at 60% right now is in order to put pressure on the US to come to the negotiating table, to behave more reasonably and to force it to remove sanctions,” the professor tells Sputnik.
The US shouldn’t expect Iran to halt its uranium enrichment – Tehran will only reduce enrichment levels and expand the IAEA’s role in the country in exchange for US sanctions relief, the academic stresses.
“Iran is a country that’s deeply and profoundly independent in its foreign policy… so the US should not expect Iran to be a subordinate country.”
What’s the Real Cause of the US-Iranian Row?
- The root cause is “Iran’s support for the Palestinian people and… legitimate resistance to ethnic cleansing, to genocide, to apartheid,” says Marandi.
- “The US supports genocide, because they unconditionally support racism… and ethno-supremacism in our region.”
- The nuclear issue is an excuse — just like the “human rights” or “terrorism” accusations the US uses against Iran to appease Israel.
US: An Irresponsible Negotiator?
The US isn’t a trustworthy negotiator; it violates agreements, according to Marandi: Trump is constantly “flip-flopping” — be it Ukraine, trade wars, Yemen, or Gaza genocide.
“This is what makes it very difficult to come to any agreement,” the pundit concludes.
Netanyahu: Israel is destroying Gaza so Palestinians are forced to leave

MEMO | May 14, 2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told members of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee on Sunday that Tel Aviv is “destroying more and more houses [in Gaza] so the Palestinians will have nowhere to return,” according to quotes from the session leaked to the media.
“The only obvious result will be Gazans choosing to emigrate outside of the Strip,” Netanyahu continued, adding that Israel’s “main problem is finding countries to take them in.”
“I know I will disappoint some people here, but we are not talking about Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip right now,” Netanyahu told lawmakers.
According to partial transcripts from the meeting leaked to the Israeli Maariv newspaper, Member of the Knesset Limor Son Har-Melech replied: “Bring the Jews of the United States [to settle Gaza]. That way, we can kill two birds with one stone.”
Netanyahu also claimed that the US “remains interested in the plan to take over the Strip’s administration” but the Times of Israel quoted sources familiar with the matter as saying that the Trump administration has put minimal effort into actually advancing Trump’s Gaza takeover plan since it was announced in early February following the massive pushback it received from Arab allies.
The Israeli military has destroyed most of the Gaza Strip during the ongoing military operations, displacing 1.9 million Palestinians multiple times within the Strip, amid deteriorating humanitarian conditions.
Israel has also imposed a complete blockade on the Strip, preventing the entry of food, water, fuel, medicines and all humanitarian aid since early March, exacerbating the suffering of the besieged population.
US court hits Israeli spyware firm NSO with $167m fine over Pegasus abuses
MEMO | May 14, 2025
A federal jury in California has ordered Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group to pay Meta $167 million in punitive damages, marking the first time a court has imposed financial liability on a spyware vendor for abuses linked to its software.
The ruling sends a strong signal that private firms profiting from invasive surveillance technology will not be shielded by their association with government clients. After a single day of deliberation, jurors found that NSO had acted with “malice, oppression or fraud” in deploying its Pegasus spyware against 1,400 WhatsApp users.
Pegasus, which grants near-total access to a target’s device, including microphones, cameras and encrypted messages, was used not against criminals, but journalists, human rights defenders and political dissidents. Meta, which owns WhatsApp, described the hacking as “despicable” and a clear violation of privacy rights.
NSO has long claimed that its spyware is sold only to vetted state clients for national security purposes. However, investigations have shown Pegasus being deployed to facilitate transnational repression by authoritarian regimes.
The previous US administration blacklisted NSO over its role in such abuses, making it the first company added to the US entity list for enabling state surveillance. The jury’s decision is expected to add pressure on Washington to further regulate the commercial spyware sector.
While the financial penalty may prove difficult to collect, the judgement itself sets a precedent: spyware firms can be held directly accountable in US courts, regardless of the state affiliations of their customers.
In doing so, the case reframes digital privacy not merely as a user expectation, but as a civil right and signals that the impunity long enjoyed by private surveillance actors is coming to an end.
F-35 near-misses over Yemen signal new risks for ‘Israel’
Al Mayadeen | May 14, 2025
US F-16 and F-35 fighter jets encountered heavy close-range fire from Ansar Allah air defenses during Operation Rough Rider, the two-month US aggression against Ansar Allah that was launched by President Donald Trump in mid-March, according to Forbes.
According to a Monday report by The New York Times, unspecified Ansar Allah air defenses came dangerously close to striking US fourth-generation F-16s and fifth-generation F-35s during the initial 30 days of Operation Rough Rider, raising concerns about potential American casualties. During the same period, Ansar Allah forces successfully shot down seven MQ-9 Reaper drones.
The potential downing of a US fighter jet and the resulting capture of a pilot by Ansar Allah forces presented a scenario that the current administration was determined to avoid, Forbes stated.
The loss of one of America’s exclusively exported stealth fighters to Ansar Allah air defenses, which had previously been considered largely improvised and relatively rudimentary, would have dealt a severe blow to US fighter jet prestige while potentially jeopardizing future arms export agreements.
‘Israel’ faces similar risks
Forbes highlighted that the near-misses involving US F-35s during operations over Yemen carry significant consequences for “Israel” as well, particularly since the Israeli Air Force initiated its first long-range strikes against Ansar Allah in July 2024 following a successful drone attack by the group that reached Tel Aviv. In March, shortly after initiating Operation Rough Rider, the US advised “Israel” against carrying out further attacks.
Trump declared the Yemen ceasefire shortly after “Israel” conducted strikes following an Ansar Allah missile attack that had successfully hit its major airport near Tel Aviv.
While US Marine Corps F-35Bs conduct operations from amphibious assault ships and Navy F-35Cs launch from supercarriers positioned near Yemen’s coast, “Israel” lacks comparable forward deployment capabilities for its F-35Is, forcing them to rely on aerial refueling to cover the more than 1,000-mile flight distance and severely limiting their available loiter time over Yemeni airspace during missions.
Given that Ansar Allah’s air defenses have already posed risks to US F-35s, Israeli F-35Is conducting long-range missions could also face similar threats, and if one were to be shot down over Yemen, it would provide Ansar Allah with an unprecedented image of a victory, according to the US magazine.
Future Israeli F-35I sorties over Yemen will likely avoid operating at maximum combat capability to minimize risk exposure.
India, Pakistan, and the future of the Indus Waters Treaty

By Amin Noorafkan | Press TV | May 14, 2025
On April 22, 2025, militants carried out a brutal attack on tourists at a hill resort in Indian-administered Kashmir, leaving 26 people dead. Indian authorities swiftly blamed Pakistan, responding by downgrading diplomatic ties and initiating a series of escalatory measures.
Among these measures, one that took many observers by surprise was India’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) – a landmark water-sharing agreement signed in Karachi in September 1960.
Despite decades of hostilities and multiple wars, the treaty had long endured as a rare symbol of cooperation between the two estranged neighbors.
As tensions surged, India launched a military operation on the morning of May 7, firing a barrage of missiles deep inside Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, reportedly killing dozens.
In retaliation, Pakistan struck several Indian cities, including key military installations, three days later.
A ceasefire was brokered just hours after Pakistan’s attack, halting the escalation between the two nuclear-armed nations. However, underlying tensions remain high.
A key point of contention is the continued suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty. Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, in remarks on Monday, warned that the fragile ceasefire could unravel if the treaty is not reinstated.
Indus Waters Treaty: Status, India’s stance and Pakistan’s response
India’s cabinet committee on security announced the Indus Waters Treaty – long seen as a symbol of “water for peace” – would be held “in abeyance” until Pakistan ends its support for cross-border terrorism.
India’s Foreign Secretary confirmed the suspension, stating it would remain in place until Pakistan “credibly and irrevocably abjures” terror support.
On the ground, India backed up its announcement with action. It briefly restricted flows on the Chenab River, and then released large volumes of water from the Baglihar and Salal dams as levels rose.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed that “India’s water will flow only in India,” emphasizing that water previously shared with Pakistan would now be conserved for domestic use.
Echoing this, Jal Shakti Minister C.R. Patil said, “We will ensure that not even a drop of water from the Indus River goes to Pakistan.”
In Islamabad, the reaction was defiant and dramatic. Pakistani leaders condemned India’s suspension of the treaty as “an act of war”.
Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and military officials publicly warned that blocking Pakistan’s water share would trigger a full response. Pakistan also announced it would pursue international legal action.
The government is reportedly preparing cases before the World Bank (the treaty’s broker), the Hague’s arbitration tribunals and even the International Court of Justice.
This escalation is particularly notable given the treaty’s durability. The Indus Waters Treaty remained intact through the wars of 1965, 1971, and 1999.
What is clear is that water has moved to the center of the current standoff. India’s handling of dam flows appears to serve more as a signal of power than a direct retaliation; a message to Pakistan that New Delhi can, at will, alter the course of shared rivers.
The Indus basin dams underpin Pakistan’s food and energy security. A recent report showed that over 80% of Pakistan’s irrigation and nearly 50% of its GDP depend on the Indus water.
But there is another player that needs to be factored into the equation.
China’s role and upstream developments
Adding complexity to the dispute is the growing role of China. In January 2023, satellite imagery revealed extensive dam construction by China on the Indus headwaters in Tibet and on the Brahmaputra (Yarlung Zangbo).
Images also show China building a dam on the Mabja Zangbo (which is a tributary flowing toward Nepal and India) and planning a mega-dam on the lower Brahmaputra.
The Brahmaputra provides about 30% of India’s freshwater and 44% of its hydropower potential, giving Beijing strategic leverage.
Some analysts warn that India’s current use of the IWT as a geopolitical tool could set a precedent, encouraging China to do the same against India downstream.
China’s involvement also has a strategic aspect. Under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Beijing has poured billions into Pakistan’s hydropower sector, co-developing large dams like Diamer-Bhasha, Dasu, and Mohmand. These projects are central to Pakistan’s water and energy plans, and China’s investment makes it a key stakeholder.
As a result, any dramatic shift in Indus water flows or treaty dynamics is unlikely to remain a bilateral issue. China could respond directly, especially on the Brahmaputra, or through its partnership with Pakistan, by accelerating joint hydropower projects.
A fragile equilibrium
India’s moves risk triggering a “double-edged sword.” By choking Indus flows, it could prompt Beijing to tighten its grip on Himalayan rivers flowing into India.
In effect, the water dispute now entangles three powers: India, Pakistan, and China, each competing for control over critical transboundary rivers.
However, not all leverage is equal. While China’s upstream position on the Brahmaputra is significant, its practical impact is more limited. The Brahmaputra’s flow through India is largely driven by monsoons, with only 7–10% originating in Tibet.
Even a theoretical full diversion (which remains unlikely due to technical and geopolitical constraints) would reduce India’s national freshwater by 10–15%, impacting less than 1% of GDP. India’s more diversified economy and lower dependence on agriculture (13.5% of GDP) offer some buffer.
Still, China’s dam-building project signals its intent to assert hydro-hegemony in the region.
And as tensions mount, rivers are no longer just a source of sustenance; they are emerging as instruments of strategy and power.
Future scenarios for water diplomacy and conflict
The coming months will reveal whether the current crisis can be resolved through diplomacy or whether tensions will spiral further.
Pakistan appears determined to internationalize the dispute. It has signaled intentions to pursue legal action through the World Bank – the designated facilitator of the Indus Waters Treaty – as well as the Permanent Court of Arbitration and potentially the International Court of Justice.
However, the World Bank has already sought to distance itself. President Ajay Banga stated that the institution has “no role to play beyond a facilitator,” casting doubt on its capacity to mediate a meaningful resolution.
As of now, there are no reports of substantive diplomatic progress. This vacuum raises the risk that the ceasefire may falter, potentially reigniting conflict. Looking ahead, several possible scenarios emerge:
- Legal/diplomatic resolution: Pakistan could formally invoke treaty mechanisms, filing for arbitration and launching protests under international law. A mediated renegotiation might follow, potentially involving updated water allocations or enhanced confidence-building measures. India has long advocated for revisions to the treaty. Under international pressure, New Delhi might seek new security guarantees, while Islamabad could push for a more robust monitoring framework to ensure compliance.
- Escalation: If India persists in withholding water flows or damming key rivers in Kashmir, Pakistan’s response may not remain confined to legal avenues. Officials have warned of potential covert retaliation, including cyberattacks or sabotage targeting Indian water infrastructure. Military confrontation cannot be ruled out either. Pakistani leadership has labeled water denial as an existential threat, with some officials mentioning the possibility of a “last resort response.”
- International mediation/coercion: While the World Bank has signaled a limited role, other global actors may step in. The United States, which helped broker the current ceasefire, could take further steps to mediate the water dispute. Other states – including China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia – may offer to facilitate negotiations or introduce incentives for cooperation. Thus far, however, India has resisted most third-party involvement, making an exception only for US-led efforts.
Amin Noorafkahn is a student of regional studies at Allamah Tabatabai University, Tehran. He is interested in political science, literature, and sociology.
Florida Rejects Controversial Encryption Backdoor Bill
By Didi Rankovic | Reclaim The Net | May 13, 2025
Legislators in the US state of Florida have shot down a bid to introduce a law that would have mandated encryption backdoors.
The outcome of the effort – known as SB 868: Social Media Use by Minors – means that the backdoors would have allowed encryption to be weakened in this fundamental way affecting all platforms where minors might choose to open an account.
As the fear-mongering campaign against encryption is being reiterated over and over again, it’s worth repeating – there is no known way of undermining encryption for any one category of users, without leaving the entire internet open and at the mercy of anything from government spies, to plain criminals.
And that affects both people’s communications and transactions.
Not to mention that while framing such radical proposals as needed for a declaratively equally large goal to achieve – the safety of youth online – in reality, by shuttering encryption, young people and everyone else are negatively affected.
If anything, it would make everyone online less secure, and, by nature of the world – young people more so than others.
And so, Florida’s Senate on announced that SB 868 is now “indefinitely postponed and withdrawn from consideration.”
The idea behind the proposal was to allow law enforcement access to communications on a social platform – by forcing a company to build in backdoors any time law enforcement came up either with a warrant – or merely a subpoena.
The focus of the bill was “ephemeral” messages – as in, preventing those defined as minors from using the associated features. At the same time, their parents or guardians would have “full access” to their online activities.
“Dangerous and dumb” – is how the digital rights groups Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) earlier summed up and alliterated the proposal.
The US, and its individual states, are not the only ones attempting to create a chink in the armor of global online security by repeatedly attacking online encryption.
Thus far, cooler heads seem to be prevailing, but the battle is far from over, as this fundamental piece of online security continues to be in the crosshairs of, most of the time, authorities hungry for ever-easier ways to conduct ever more invasive mass surveillance.
Iran’s Bold Nuclear Deal 2.0?
By Oleg Burunov – Sputnik – 14.05.2025
After the US unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 Iran nucleal deal in May 2018, subsequent efforts to revive the agreement have largely stalled.
Iran has suggested a joint nuclear enrichment project with US investments and regional Arab nations – Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Iranian FM Abbas Araghchi offered the idea as an alternative to US demand for the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program during the recent talks with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman, the New York Times reports.
Iran would use the venture to enrich uranium to a low grade, beneath the levels needed for nuclear weapons.
Representatives from other countries, including the US, will be on the ground to provide “oversight and involvement.”
