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Agent Waltz?

By Daniel McAdams | Ron Paul Institute | May 3, 2025

The Washington Post is reporting today that recently-ousted National Security Advisor Mike Waltz may have been involved in activities even more nefarious than inviting journalists onto highly sensitive Signal group chats. It appears that what really angered President Trump is less Waltz’s incompetence (or worse) in keeping sensitive military communications secure, but rather his taking an active role in doing the bidding of a foreign government.

As the Post reported, in advance of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s February visit to the United States the US National Security Advisor to President Trump…

… appeared to have engaged in intense coordination with Netanyahu about military options against Iran ahead of an Oval Office meeting between the Israeli leader and Trump, the two people said.

That means that Mike Waltz was working with a foreign government to maneuver President Trump into a situation where war seemed the only option left to deal with Iran. That kind of manipulation is a classic neocon move and one that Waltz’s ideological allies managed with great success against President George W. Bush regarding Iraq.

According to one insider quoted in the article, Waltz, “wanted to take U.S. policy in a direction Trump wasn’t comfortable with because the US hadn’t attempted a diplomatic solution.”

That means the former NSA was working with a foreign leader to limit the diplomatic and military options his boss could choose from, i.e. he was working to hobble the United States so as to achieve an objective of a foreign regime.

The WaPo piece continues…

‘If Jim Baker was doing a side deal with the Saudis to subvert George H.W. Bush, you’d be fired,’ a Trump adviser said, referring to Bush’s secretary of state. ‘You can’t do that. You work for the president of your country, not a president of another country.’

To his credit, President Trump recognized that Waltz was blowing Bibi’s smoke at him and rather than bite at the trap sprung for him the President saw through the game and became annoyed possibly at both of them. The fiasco one month later, where Waltz claimed that neocon scribbler Jeffrey Goldberg’s contact information had somehow been “sucked up” into his phone and then presumably spit out again when it came time to invite top Administration officials onto a call to discuss military strikes on Yemen, may have been the straw that broke Trump’s waning patience in the man.

Last month, the Grayzone published leaked audio of Israel lobby AIPAC’s CEO, Elliott Brandt, “describing how his organization has cultivated influence with three top national security officials in the Trump administration – Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Director Mike Waltz, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe – and how it believes it can gain ‘access’ to their internal discussions.”

Was the Waltz/Netanyahu trap for Trump the result of this “cultivated influence” that Brandt is bragging about? And if so, how much deeper does it go?

Whatever the case, it’s lucky for Waltz that he was “only” acting as an agent for our Greatest Ally ™ and Only Democracy in the Middle East ™. Otherwise he’d be soon enjoying the hospitality of Bukele’s All Male B&B rather than the rather more luxurious digs at 50 United Nations Plaza.

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

Germany On the Path to Tyranny

By Jurij Kofner & Glenn Diesen
Glenn Diesen | May 2, 2025

AfD has polled as the most popular political party in Germany, and the political-media class has openly discussed banning the party. AfD as the main political opposition has now been designated as an “extremist organisation”, which opens up for the German intelligence service to surveil and crack down on the political opposition. This is reasonably interpreted as the first step to banning the main opposition party.

Both Marco Rubio and JD Vance have warned against Germany’s drift toward tyranny:

I discussed these issues with the economic advisor to AfD, Jurij Kofner.

May 4, 2025 Posted by | Economics, Malthusian Ideology, Phony Scarcity, Russophobia, Video | , , , | Leave a comment

Facebook Shuts Down Town Council Candidate’s Account Weeks Before Election

By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net | May 3, 2025

Courtney Knill, a candidate for city council in Charles Town, West Virginia, found herself abruptly cut off from her Facebook account last week, a blow that landed just weeks before voters head to the polls. Facebook accused Knill of impersonating herself and removed her page, eliminating a major outreach tool from her campaign.

The takedown came without any prior notice. When Knill attempted to access her account, she was met with a message citing violations of “community standards.” Facebook’s process for appeal offered no clarity or second chances.

“All they had me do was record a video of myself where they had me point my face in a different direction, basically just showing that you are who you say they are,” she said to the Post Millennial. But the appeal was denied.

“They reviewed it, and then just today I got the notice: We disabled your account… reviewed your account. It still doesn’t follow our community standards on account integrity. You cannot request another review of this decision, and you can download your information if you want. And that’s it,” Knill said. “Done. Campaign Facebook page shut down.”

Her accounts on Instagram and X remain live, but Facebook, a dominant force in local elections, is no longer accessible to her. The platform gave no specific explanation for what content, if any, violated its standards.

Silencing a candidate during an active election cycle, especially without justification, raises urgent questions about unchecked corporate control over public discourse. When platforms erase campaigns with no transparency or accountability, the real casualties are voters who lose access to the voices and ideas meant to represent them.

May 3, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Leave a comment

Maine Lawmaker Asks Supreme Court to Reverse Speech Ban

By Dan Frieth | Reclaim The Net | May 3, 2025

A Maine legislator has turned to the US Supreme Court after being effectively stripped of her ability to represent her constituents over a controversial social media post. Republican Rep. Laurel Libby, who serves District 90, submitted an emergency request to the high court this week, seeking to overturn a disciplinary action imposed by her fellow lawmakers that has barred her from voting or speaking on the House floor since February.

The dispute stems from a Facebook post Libby made criticizing the inclusion of a transgender athlete in a statewide girls’ pole vault competition.

The post included a mention of a Maine student and questioned the fairness of allowing biological males to compete in girls’ sports categories, a stance that ignited outrage among Democratic legislators. In response, the House voted to censure Libby and conditioned her return to full legislative participation on an apology she had refused to give.

Rather than comply, Libby launched a legal fight to restore her role, arguing the punishment amounted to unconstitutional retaliation. After lower courts refused to intervene, she is now asking the Supreme Court to address what she sees as a blatant violation of the First Amendment and a denial of her constituents’ right to representation.

We obtained a copy of the application for you here.

“For over 60 days my constituents have had no say in any actions taken by their government, actions that directly impact their lives,” she wrote in a post on X. “Every vote taken on the floor of the legislature is a vote my constituents cannot get back. The good people of our district have been silenced and disenfranchised.”

Libby emphasized that the case raises serious concerns about the limits of legislative authority when it comes to penalizing elected officials for their speech.

“For more than 50 years, the Supreme Court has recognized that it violates the First Amendment to retaliate against a representative for exercising their right to free speech — and has firmly rejected immunity claims in nearly identical circumstances,” she continued. “Yet today, Maine stands alone, insisting it can silence me and deprive my constituents of representation for the remainder of my term simply because I told the truth on social media.”

May 3, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Leave a comment

US House to vote on bill criminalizing boycott of Israel

Press TV – May 3, 2025

The US House of Representatives is set to vote on a controversial bill that proposes fines or prison terms for Americans participating in boycotts of Israel or Israeli settlements, promoted by international governmental organizations such as the UN or EU.

The House is scheduled to vote Monday on the contentious anti-boycott act, which seeks to penalize American citizens with fines up to $1 million or prison terms as long as 20 years for boycotting the Israeli regime.

Sponsored by pro-Israel congressmen Mike Lawler and Josh Gottheimer, the bill will broaden the US anti-boycott law by targeting voluntary, values-based political actions undertaken by American citizens.

The underlying objective is to shield the Israeli regime from non-violent international pressure campaigns, notably the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS).

Rights groups warned that the legislation will criminalize constitutionally protected political expression.

The move, according to rights groups, is part of a broader push by the US government to suppress opposition to Israeli genocide, apartheid, and illegal settlement expansion, under the guise of fighting anti-Semitism.

The original act was introduced in 2024. Back then the Republican-controlled Congress passed this bill with broad bipartisan support, but the Senate Democrats blocked the legislation.

Now that Republicans control the Senate as well, there is a significant chance that the act will pass both Congress and Senate.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the most powerful Israeli lobby group in the US, said it “strongly supports” the act.

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) Action has already supported the legislation and broader congressional campaigns to push back against anti-Israeli boycotts.

The majority of anti-Israeli boycotts aim to force the regime to end its genocidal war on Gaza that has taken the lives of more than 52,500 Palestinians and injured at least 118,000, most of whom are children and women.

The Israeli regime has put Gaza on a total blockade for 2 months and barred the entry of all humanitarian aid, including food, which according to the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), has driven the territory’s 2.3 million population toward famine.

May 3, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Solidarity and Activism | , , , , | Leave a comment

Melissa Jane Kronfeld: American Zionist who campaigns for demolition of al-Aqsa Mosque

By Maryam Qarehgozlou | Press TV | May 3, 2025

A viral video captures pro-Palestinian protesters chanting “war criminal” at Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a convicted terrorist supporter and advocate for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, during a confrontation at the US Capitol in Washington, DC.

The demonstrators can be heard shouting “Shame on you!”, “Free Free Palestine!” and “War Criminal!” as Ben-Gvir, who has previously called for the expulsion of Palestinians and the destruction of the al-Aqsa Mosque, aggressively screams and attempts to lunge at them.

Accompanying Ben-Gvir in the video is Melissa Jane Kronfeld, seen filming and verbally assaulting protesters, who had convened at the Capitol for Muslim Hill Days (April 28–29), an annual event organized by the US Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO) and other Muslim advocacy groups.

The gathering aimed to engage members of Congress on Capitol Hill to push for a ceasefire in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip and an end to the ongoing genocidal war and blockade.

This event overlapped with Ben-Gvir’s visit to the US Congress.

But who, exactly, is Melissa Kronfeld, the woman visibly incensed by pro-Palestine protesters at the US Congress, while accompanying Ben-Gvir?

A New York native, Kronfeld boasts a résumé spanning international relations, international law, national security, and Jewish philosophy, with academic credentials from George Washington, New York University, Rutgers, and Bar-Ilan University.

She is an American-Israeli propagandist, college lecturer, and political advisor who has spoken at conferences around the globe, including at the White House and Capitol Hill. Kronfeld is also a frequent commentator across pro-Zionist print, television, radio, and podcast news outlets.

Over the years, Kronfeld has worked with, joined, or supported numerous pro-genocide Zionist organizations, including the World Jewish Congress, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, StandWithUS, the Zionist Organization of America, and the Republican Jewish Coalition, among others.

In addition, she founded an organization named ‘High on the Har’, sponsored by the PFAP Foundation, a tax-deductible Zionist group operating out of Florida, US.

PFAP claims that it “develops and sponsors community projects advancing Israel, Judaism, Zionism, and the welfare of the Jewish people” in the occupied Palestinian territories.

High on the Har is also funded by taxpayers in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia. It regularly organizes provocative incursions of the al-Aqsa Mosque under the guise of “tours.”

The al-Aqsa compound is Islam’s third-holiest site and a powerful symbol of Palestinian identity.

It doesn’t take deep investigation to grasp the real agenda: High on the Har, and Kronfeld herself, aim to see the Al-Aqsa Mosque replaced with a “Jewish Temple.”

The ultra-Zionist group actively incites settlers to storm the holy mosque and provoke Palestinians.

In an interview with CBS News last March, Kronfeld made her intentions clear, stating her desire to see Israel demolish the al-Aqsa Mosque compound and construct a “Jewish temple” in its place.

“The whole thing is going to go, we have to build a temple,” she said.

She has previously disclosed her involvement with the Israeli occupation army as well.

High on the Har has also been distributing “3rd Temple” patches to Israeli occupation soldiers taking part in the ongoing genocide in Gaza, where more than 52,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed since the onslaught began 19 months ago.

High on the Har has been sending patches of the “3rd Temple” to Israeli soldiers committing a genocide in Gaza.
Since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formed his cabinet in 2022, Israel has been systematically eroding the status quo of the al-Aqsa Mosque with brazen audacity.

Last August, Ben-Gvir ignited outrage by declaring his intent to establish a Jewish synagogue within the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East al-Quds—should the opportunity arise.

Earlier this month, pro-settler social media accounts circulated an AI-generated video depicting the mosque engulfed in flames, eventually replaced by the so-called “Third Temple.”

The video, captioned with the message “Next Year in Jerusalem, Messiah Now,” sparked swift condemnation from several Arab countries, including Jordan, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.

In 2024, more than 53,600 Israelis stormed the mosque compound, marking the highest number since Israeli occupation forces first allowed Jewish access over two decades ago.

According to the al-Quds governorate, approximately 13,000 settlers entered the site during the first quarter of 2025 alone.

Israel seized East al-Quds during the 1967 war and illegally annexed the city in 1980, a move that remains in violation of international law.

May 3, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Illegal Occupation | , , , , | Leave a comment

Iran says US ‘not serious’ about nuclear talks after Trump imposes new sanctions

The Cradle | May 2, 2025

The Iranian Foreign Ministry affirmed on 2 May that Tehran is committed to continuing the diplomatic process and negotiations regarding its nuclear program but that it “will not accept pressure and threats that violate international law and target the rights of the Iranian people.”

In a statement, the ministry condemned the continued illegal sanctions on Iran and the “pressure on its economic partners,” viewing them as “further evidence that the United States is not serious about adopting a diplomatic approach toward Iran.”

It also stressed that the continuation of these policies “will not change Iran’s firm positions in defending its legitimate rights,” and that “testing failed methods will only lead to a repetition of past failures.”

The Foreign Ministry went on to say that the Iranian negotiating delegation, during the first three rounds, attempted to “reach a fair agreement that guarantees the rights of the Iranian people, within the specified frameworks that allow Tehran to use peaceful nuclear energy.”

Tehran entered indirect negotiations with Washington following US President Donald Trump’s letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, to “resolve a fabricated crisis through diplomacy, based on good faith,” the statement added.

The Ministry’s statement came after Trump announced on Thursday that all purchases of Iranian oil or petrochemical products must stop, warning that any country or individual continuing such trade would face immediate secondary sanctions and be barred from doing business with the US.

“They will not be allowed to do business with the United States of America in any way, shape, or form,” he wrote on Truth Social on Thursday.

Secondary sanctions are a powerful tool for the US because of the size of its economy.

Trump’s comments follow the postponement of the latest US talks with Iran over its nuclear program.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday that the fourth round of talks, which were due to take place in Rome on Saturday, had been rescheduled at the suggestion of the Sultanate of Oman for “logistical reasons.”

Sources speaking with Al Mayadeen he explained that the postponement came “against the backdrop of the conflicting positions taken by the US administration regarding the talks, and Washington’s efforts to change the general framework for negotiations that had been previously agreed upon.”

In a related development, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserted on 1 May that Iran must “walk away” from both uranium enrichment and the development of long-range missiles.

“They have to walk away from sponsoring terrorists, they have to walk away from helping the Houthis (in Yemen), they have to walk away from building long-range missiles that have no purpose to exist other than having nuclear weapons, and they have to walk away from enrichment,” Rubio said in an interview with Fox News.

His comments came as the fourth round of nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington, set to take place in Rome on Saturday, were postponed.

An Iranian official cited by Reuters said a new date for the talks would be set “depending on the US approach.”

Tehran has repeatedly affirmed that both its uranium enrichment and its defense capabilities are non-negotiable in the talks with the US.

May 3, 2025 Posted by | Economics, Wars for Israel | , , , | Leave a comment

Ansar Allah triumphant: US facing Red Sea defeat again

By Kit Klarenberg | Al Mayadeen | May 3, 2025

On April 28th, Western media outlets became abuzz with news that the USS Harry S. Truman – which is leading the Trump administration’s effort to dismantle Ansar Allah’s anti-genocide Red Sea blockade – lost an F/A-18E fighter jet and tow tractor, while executing a hard turn to evade fire from the Resistance group. While a US Navy press release on the incident made no reference to Ansar Allah’s assault, nameless American officials have briefed several mainstream journalists that the losses were Yemen’s doing.

Reporting on the disaster by dependably servile CIA and Pentagon propaganda megaphone CNN was extraordinarily candid. “US Navy loses $60 million jet at sea after it fell overboard from aircraft carrier”, its headline read. The outlet explicitly acknowledged this resulted from an Ansar Allah “drone and missile attack” on USS Harry S. Truman. CNN went on to note the aircraft carrier has “repeatedly been targeted in attacks” by Yemen, while suffering a series of shameful blunders since its deployment to the Red Sea in September 2024.

In December that year, a US fighter jet posted to USS Harry S. Truman was shot down while conducting a refueling mission over the Red Sea in a friendly fire incident. The USS Gettysburg, which was escorting the aircraft carrier, blasted the jet with a missile for reasons unclear. This gross misadventure remains subject to official investigation. Then, on February 12th this year, USS Harry S. Truman was extensively damaged after colliding with a commercial vessel near Egypt’s Port Said, at the Suez Canal’s northern end.

The aircraft carrier returned to service after a period spent in Greece’s Souda Bay for repairs. The US Navy refused to release details about the cost of these repairs, or the total damage USS Harry S. Truman sustained in the collision. Whether further repairs were required was also not clarified. However, the accident was apparently considered so catastrophic within the Pentagon that the carrier’s chief, Dave Snowden, was fired from his post on February 20th, “due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command”.

These humiliating developments were completely ignored by the media. Concurrently, however, mainstream outlets were engaged in a concerted effort to rehabilitate Operation Prosperity Guardian, the embarrassingly failed Biden administration attempt to smash Ansar Allah and end the Resistance group’s righteous Red Sea blockade. Launched with much hype following the Gaza genocide’s eruption, a vast US flotilla led by USS Eisenhower spent nine months getting battered by a relentless barrage of Ansar Allah drones and missiles to no avail, before scurrying back to the US.

‘Defensive Systems’

Throughout Operation Prosperity Guardian, current and former US military and intelligence officials expressed disquiet at the enormous “cost offset” involved in battling Ansar Allah. The US Navy squandered countless difficult-to-replace missiles costing hundreds of thousands of dollars – if not millions – daily to shoot down the Resistance group’s low-cost drones. As Mick Mulroy, a former DOD official and CIA officer, bitterly told Politico :

“[This] quickly becomes a problem because the most benefit, even if we do shoot down their incoming missiles and drones, is in [Yemen’s] favor… We, the US, need to start looking at systems that can defeat these that are more in line with the costs they are expending to attack us.”

There was no sign of this “cost offset” having been remediated by the time Operation Prosperity Guardian fizzled out in July 2024. Official US Navy figures on the “unprecedented” engagement suggest the USS Eisenhower-led carrier group fired a total of 155 standard missiles and 135 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles, while accompanying fighter jets and helicopters “expended nearly 60 air-to-air missiles and released 420 air-to-surface weapons” – 770 munitions in total – over the nine-month-long conflict.

Independent analysis suggests these figures are likely to be even higher. Moreover, the US Navy did not provide a breakdown of the costs involved in Operation Prosperity Guardian. Even if one accepts the official figures, a single Tomahawk alone costs around $1.89 million, meaning firing 135 cost a staggering $255,150,000. There is also the enduring question of whether this astonishingly expensive arsenal failed to protect USS Eisenhower from direct Ansar Allah attack.

In February 2024, a cruise missile fired from Yemen penetrated so many layers of the aircraft carrier’s defences it was seconds from impact, forcing USS Eisenhower to employ the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System – its “last line of defense”. It marked the System’s first-ever recorded use in battle. Then in June that year, the USS Eisenhower inexplicably withdrew from its sphere of operations in the Red Sea at maximum speed, immediately after Ansar Allah announced it had successfully struck the carrier.

As Al Mayadeen recorded at the time, multiple Western news reports painted a dire picture of Operation Prosperity Guardian in its aftermath. Associated Press revealed that participating sailors and pilots had found the experience “traumatizing”, as they “weren’t used to being fired on.” Many had repeatedly come within seconds of being struck by “Houthi-launched missiles”, before they were destroyed “by their ship’s defensive systems.” The Pentagon was thus considering providing “counseling and treatment” to thousands of US Navy employees suffering from “post-traumatic stress”, and their families.

‘Supplemental Funds’

Fast forward to February 2025, and Business Insider published a curious article, claiming, based on documents exclusively obtained by the outlet, that in fact the US Navy had successfully “fended off” Ansar Allah’s Red Sea blitzkrieg throughout Operation Prosperity Guardian, “without firing a shot”. Instead, “undefined” and “unspecified” methods and weapons of a “non-kinetic” variety were “successfully” employed to protect “Navy and coalition warships and commercial vessels”. This was, of course, at total odds with literally everything the mainstream media had hitherto reported on the debacle.

With hindsight though, the report’s propaganda utility was clear. It served to rehabilitate the US Navy’s performance in its war on Yemen at a time the Trump administration was preparing to kickstart hostilities against Ansar Allah again. So it was on March 15th, US airstrikes began raining down on Sanaa anew, while the USS Harry S. Truman-led carrier force thrust stridently into the Red Sea. US officials have talked a big game about the fresh assault continuing “indefinitely”, and Trump has bragged that Ansar Allah is “decimated”.

The April 28th loss of an F/A-18E fighter jet due to Yemeni attacks amply demonstrates such boasts to be entirely untrue. In the meantime, on April 4th, the New York Times reported Pentagon officials were “privately” briefing that Trump’s belligerence was failing to graze Ansar Allah, while costing in excess of $1 billion to date. This not only meant “supplemental funds” for the operation needed to be mustered from Congress, but doubts about continued ammunition availability gravely abounded:

“So many precision munitions are being used, especially advanced long-range ones, that some Pentagon contingency planners are growing concerned about overall Navy stocks and implications for any situation in which the United States would have to ward off an attempted invasion of Taiwan by China.”

The New York Times also noted the Trump administration had offered no explanation as to “why it thinks its campaign against [Ansar Allah] will succeed”. Almost a month later, clarity on this crucial point remains unforthcoming. We can perhaps surmise then that the flurry of mainstream interest over the USS Harry S. Truman’s recent troubles is indicative of a determination by the Pentagon to end Washington’s renewed malevolence against Yemen before Ansar Allah inflicts yet another historic defeat on the US Empire.

May 3, 2025 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , , , , | Leave a comment

US approves F-16 support package for Ukraine

RT | May 3, 2025

The US has approved a $310.5 million deal to sustain Ukrainian-operated F-16 fighter jets provided by Kiev’s European backers. The move comes after the US and Ukraine signed a deal in which Kiev grants Washington access to its natural resources in exchange for future assistance.

The F-16 deliveries from European NATO members to Ukraine were approved by former US President Joe Biden in August 2023, but the first jets did not arrive in the country until a year later. While Ukrainian officials hailed the deliveries as a major coup, Western media warned that they would not be a “game changer” in the conflict. In March, the Ukrainian Air Force acknowledged that the F-16s operated by Kiev “cannot compete” with the latest Russian jets.

In a statement on Friday, the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said the State Department had signed off on a foreign military sale to Ukraine which includes training, spare parts, aircraft modifications, logistics assistance, and software support for F-16s.

The agency added that the proposed sale “will support the foreign policy goals… of the United States by improving the security of a partner country that is a force for political stability” in Europe.

More than 80 F-16s have been promised to Ukraine, with the bulk expected to come from Belgium and the Netherlands, while the US has never committed to providing the jets on its own. While the exact number of jets delivered is unknown, Moscow confirmed last month it had shot down one F-16. Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky said the aircraft’s pilot perished during a “combat mission.”

In 2024, Ukraine reported the loss of another F-16, saying it crashed while repelling a Russian air strike.

The DSCA announcement comes after the Pentagon said it is sending “disused and completely non-operational F-16s to Ukraine for parts.” It also follows the signing of a US-Ukraine resource deal that is intended to allow Washington to recover the cost of future military support through shared proceeds from Ukrainian mineral resource licenses.

Moscow has condemned the Western arms shipments to Ukraine, warning they will only prolong the conflict without changing the outcome. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Ukrainian-operated F-16s will “burn” just like other Western-supplied equipment.

May 3, 2025 Posted by | Militarism | , , , | Leave a comment

Trump Requests Record $1.01 Trillion for National Defense for FY2026

Sputnik – 02.05.2025

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump has proposed a historic $1.01 trillion budget for national defense for fiscal year 2026, representing a 13% increase from the current year’s $878.4 billion, according to a document released by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Friday.

“For Defense spending, the President proposes an increase of 13 percent to $1.01 trillion for FY 2026,” OMB director Russell Vought said in a letter to Senate Committee on Appropriations chair Susan Collins.

Trump also proposed to cut non-defense discretionary budget spending by $163 billion or 22.6%, according to the letter.

The defense budget request includes $113 billion in mandatory funding and emphasizes investments aimed at revitalizing the US defense industrial base, deterring potential Chinese aggression, and modernizing the US nuclear deterrent, the letter said.

Trump’s budget proposal supports US space dominance to strengthen US national security and strategic advantage, the letter added.

Donald Trump’s budget request for the fiscal year 2026 pauses most contributions to the United Nations and other international organizations, according to the document.

“The Budget pauses most assessed and all voluntary contributions to UN and other international organizations, including for the UN Regular Budget, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and the World Health Organization,” OMD director Russell Vought said in a letter to Senate Committee on Appropriations chair Susan Collins.

Trump’s budget also does not allocate funds for “wasteful” United Nations (UN) and other peacekeeping missions, citing recent failures and high assessment costs, according to the letter.

The Trump administration requested on Friday in its 2026 budget proposal to refocus NASA funding on flying to the Moon and sending humans to Mars.

“The Budget refocuses National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) funding on beating China back to the Moon and on putting the first human on Mars. By allocating over $7 billion for lunar exploration and introducing $1 billion in new investments for Mars-focused programs, the Budget ensures that America’s human space exploration efforts remain unparalleled, innovative, and efficient,” the budget request said.

The budget request also included the reduction in the International Space Station’s (ISS) crew size, onboard research, and preparation for decommissioning by 2030.

“The Budget reduces the space station’s crew size and onboard research, preparing for a safe decommissioning of the station by 2030 and replacement by commercial space stations,” the White House said.

Trump has requested a record $175 billion investment to fully secure the US border, according to the document.

“For Homeland Security, the Budget commits a historic $175 billion investment to, at long last, fully secure our border,” OMB director Russell Vought said in a letter to Senate Committee on Appropriations chair Susan Collins.

The request reflects an almost 65% increase compared to the fiscal year 2025, when $107.9 billion was allocated for Homeland Security.

The Trump administration’s 2026 budget request included funding for the F-47 fighter jet program and a down-payment for the Golden Dome missile defense shield deployment in the United States, the White House said on Friday.

“Specifically, the Budget… makes a down-payment on the development and deployment of a Golden Dome for America, a next-generation missile defense shield that would protect the U.S. from missile threats coming from any adversary,” the White House said.

The budget proposal also funds the F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance platform: the world’s first crewed sixth-generation fighter aircraft”, it added.

The request included funding for the F-47 fighter jet program and a down-payment for the Golden Dome missile defense shield deployment in the United States, the White House said on Friday.

“Specifically, the Budget… makes a down-payment on the development and deployment of a Golden Dome for America, a next-generation missile defense shield that would protect the U.S. from missile threats coming from any adversary,” the White House said.

The budget proposal also funds the F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance platform, the world’s first crewed sixth-generation fighter aircraft”, it added.

Trump’s budget proposal eliminates funding for the National Endowment for Democracy program as it was used “to blacklist conservative media” and label figures like JD Vance as “foreign propagandists of the Russian Federation” under the Biden administration, the document said.

“National Endowment for Democracy (NED) – The Budget defunds this program that under the Biden Administration was used to dox journalists, push propaganda, and blacklist conservative media outlets, saving $315 million. In March 2025, it was uncovered that the Ukraine disinformation organization that doxxed U.S. journalists, called for prosecutions of Trump world, and smeared the likes of Vice President Vance and others as ‘foreign propogandists of the Russian Federation,’ were funded by NED. NED also funded the now-infamous State Department Disinformation Index Foundation that targeted and blacklisted conservative media outlets such as Federalist, Newsmax, TAC, the Blaze, NYP, etc,” the document said.

The budget request also proposes the closure of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and transfer of the remaining programs under the umbrella of the State Department.

Besides, it proposes the closure of the United States Institute of Peace.

May 3, 2025 Posted by | Economics, Militarism | | Leave a comment

ICAN FIGHTS BACK: SUPPORT FOR THE INJURED, DATA FOR THE PEOPLE

The HighWire with Del Bigtree | April 18, 2025

ICAN lead counsel Aaron Siri, Esq., joins Del to unveil a groundbreaking new ICAN initiative aimed at helping COVID vaccine-injured individuals who were previously denied government compensation. He also reveals disturbing new developments from the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD)—a massive database of health records from over 10 million Americans—and what it means for the long-promised vaccinated vs. unvaccinated study. Don’t miss this critical update.

 

May 3, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Science and Pseudo-Science, Video | , | Leave a comment