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Florida to ‘End All Vaccine Mandates,’ State’s Surgeon General Announces

By Brenda Baletti, Ph.D. | The Defender | September 3, 2025

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced today plans to eliminate all vaccine mandates in the state, including for children to attend school.

“The Florida Department of Health, in partnership with the governor, is going to be working to end all vaccine mandates in Florida,” Ladapo said at a press conference in Tampa, hosted by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Florida would be the first state to completely drop all mandated vaccinations.

Ladapo said every immunization requirement “is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery.”

“Who am I as a government? Or anyone else? Or who am I as a man standing here now to tell you what you should put in your body?” he asked.

Ladapo said some vaccines are mandated by the Florida Department of Health, but those requirements “are going to be gone.”

“We are going to work with the governor and law makers to get rid of the rest,” he added.

Ladapo did not lay out a timeline to end the mandates.

Currently in Florida, children without vaccine exemptions are required to take most vaccines on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s childhood immunization schedule to attend daycare or school. This includes shots for hepatitis B, measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, pneumococcal vaccine, the Hib vaccine and others.

Vaccine rates in Florida reportedly dropping

Vaccination rates in the state have reportedly declined under Ladapo, with 90.6% of kindergarteners vaccinated, the lowest number in over a decade, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.

The rate of religious exemptions in the state has been increasing, according to the state’s public health department.

Ladapo, a graduate of Harvard Medical School, has been widely praised by critics of the COVID-19 vaccines and people in the health freedom movement generally for his critiques of questionable guidance issued by public health agencies.

In April 2020, he garnered national attention for his critique of the government’s pandemic management measures in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal called “Lockdowns Won’t Stop the Spread.”

In September 2021, Ladapo was appointed Florida’s surgeon general.

In 2023, he issued a health alert to the Florida healthcare sector and to the public, warning that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines caused a “substantial increase” in reports of adverse events in Florida.

Last year, Ladapo called for a halt in the use of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines over safety concerns that the mRNA technology is delivering DNA contaminants into people’s cells.

He also played a key role in the decision for Florida to become the second state to ban fluoride in public drinking water.

The mainstream media and its go-to commentators on public health — such as Dr. Paul Offit, who was removed from his vaccine advisory position at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday — denounced the move to end the mandates, saying it would put children at risk.

Those news organizations also argue that vaccines are key tools for public health.

Florida’s announcement follows a similar move last month in Idaho, where Gov. Brad Little signed into law the Idaho Medical Freedom Act, which prohibits most medical mandates in the state.

At today’s press conference, DeSantis announced the state will establish its own Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission at the state level.

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.

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

Russia-China gas deal to ‘turn the LNG market on its head’ – analysts

RT | September 3, 2025

Russia’s announcement this week of expanded pipeline gas exports to China could shake the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market and squeeze out US suppliers, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

During his visit to China, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that Moscow and Beijing had reached consensus on a major new pipeline across Mongolia, which would significantly boost existing supplies.

Although Chinese officials did not immediately comment, Bloomberg noted that “the ties binding Russia to its most important consumer have undoubtedly tightened.” The proposed Power of Siberia 2 pipeline could be operational by 2030. Combined with other supply increases, Russia could displace up to half of the more than 40 million tons of LNG China currently imports each year, including from the US, Bloomberg estimated.

”Given that China is the largest importer of LNG, this would turn the LNG market on its head,” analysts at AB Bernstein, a Wall Street research and brokerage firm, wrote in a note cited by the outlet. “For LNG projects that are still being contemplated, this would be a big negative.”

The report framed the development as a signal from Beijing to Washington that it does not need US LNG for long-term growth, a message sent as relations between the two countries sour.

Bloomberg added that China appears comfortable with deeper reliance on Russian supplies, which Bernstein predicted could cover 20% of its gas demand by the early 2030s, up from around 10% today. This week, China also received its first shipment from Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project, despite US sanctions.

Moscow has accused Western governments of prioritizing geopolitics over fair competition, pointing to the freezing of Russian sovereign assets and attempts to curtail its energy exports through economic restrictions.

Russian officials argue such actions are pushing Moscow to seek more dependable customers, particularly for pipeline gas, which requires heavy infrastructure investment and long-term cooperation.

September 3, 2025 Posted by | Economics | , , | Leave a comment

Israeli drones drop grenades near UNIFIL in Lebanon amid Hezbollah disarmament push

Press TV – September 3, 2025

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) says Israeli drones have dropped four grenades close to peacekeepers working to clear roadblocks, which were hindering access to a UN position, in “one of the most serious attacks” on its personnel since the 2024 ceasefire deal between Lebanon and Israel.

“This is one of the most serious attacks on UNIFIL personnel and assets since the cessation of hostilities agreement of last November,” the UNIFIL said in a statement on Wednesday.

It added, “One grenade impacted within 20 meters and three within approximately 100 meters of UN personnel and vehicles.”

UNIFIL has stated that the Israeli army was notified beforehand regarding its road clearance operations in the area, southeast of the village of Marwahin.

“Any actions endangering UN peacekeepers and assets, and interference with their mandated tasks are unacceptable and a serious violation of Resolution 1701 and international law,” the UNIFIL said.

The resolution, which brokered a ceasefire in the 33-day-long war Israel launched against Lebanon in 2006, calls on the occupying Tel Aviv regime to respect Lebanese sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Last week, the UN Security Council voted unanimously to terminate the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon at the end of next year after nearly five decades, bowing to demands from the United States and its close ally Israel.

The UNIFIL was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion. Its mission was expanded following the summer 2006 war on Lebanon.

The Israeli attack also comes amid growing pressure on the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah. The United States and Israel have increasingly attacked the peacekeeping force for not countering Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

However, observers note that UNIFIL’s mandate does not include countering Hezbollah, and the resistance movement is widely viewed across Lebanon as a critical deterrent against Israeli aggression.

Despite near-daily Israeli airstrikes and repeated violations of Lebanese airspace and sovereignty, Hezbollah remains the only credible military force capable of confronting the occupation and preventing further Israeli incursions.

Lebanese officials have condemned Israel’s continued occupation of five positions in southern Lebanon, calling it a clear breach of the ceasefire terms.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, under growing US-Israeli pressure to push for Hezbollah’s disarmament, welcomed the extension of UNIFIL’s mandate but emphasized the need for Israel to withdraw from occupied Lebanese territory.

Critics, however, question how Lebanese forces can assert control in the south while Israeli troops remain in place and escalate attacks.

As calls to disarm Hezbollah grow louder from Washington and Israel, many in Lebanon argue that such efforts ignore the core issue of Israel’s continued violations of Lebanese sovereignty.

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

Putin ready to host Zelensky in Moscow

RT | September 3, 2025

Russian President Vladimir Putin has reiterated his readiness to host Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky in Moscow. Holding meetings for the sake of meetings is a “path to nowhere,” however, and such talks must be meaningful, he stressed.

The Russian president was speaking to gathered media on Wednesday at the Diaoyutai Residence in Beijing, China, marking the end of a 4-day visit – his longest trip abroad since 2012 – to China, that included the SCO summit, bilateral talks and a military parade on Tiananmen Square.

“It’s a path to nowhere, to just meet, let’s put it carefully, the de-facto head of the [Ukrainian] administration. It’s possible, I’ve never refused to, if such a meeting is well-prepared and would lead to some potential positive results,” Putin stated, in response to a question on whether he planned to meet Zelensky.

US President Donald Trump asked the Russian president to hold such a meeting during their summit in Alaska last month, Putin added. “If Zelensky is ready, he can come to Moscow, and such a meeting will take place,” he said.

At the same time, Putin reiterated concerns about the legitimacy of the Ukrainian leader and whether meeting him would actually be “meaningful.” Zelensky’s presidential term has long run out, and no legal mechanism to extend it exists in Ukraine, he said.

In an interview with the Indonesian newspaper Kompas released on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed that Moscow’s top priority remains settling the crisis via peaceful means, adding that it is taking concrete steps to achieve that goal.

Lavrov recalled that Moscow initiated the resumption of direct Russia-Ukraine talks this spring, resulting in three rounds of direct negotiations in Istanbul, Türkiye. He noted that the sides reached “certain progress,” including prisoner exchanges and the repatriation of the bodies of dead soldiers.

September 3, 2025 Posted by | Aletho News | , , | Leave a comment

The coming war on Iran will be regional, perhaps international

By Robert Inlakesh | Al Mayadeen | September 2, 2025

It is unlikely that the anticipated continuation of the war on Iran, spearheaded by the Israelis but led by the United States, will be confined to a simple tit-for-tat missile trade-off as we saw earlier this year. The reason for this is simple: too much is at stake if this front again flares up.

Since the US-brokered ceasefire between “Israel” and Iran went into effect on June 29, the United States and the Zionist regime have scrambled to move around military equipment, engage in mass surveillance flights over Lebanon and the Persian Gulf. More recently, the US began an early withdrawal of its forces from the Ain al-Assad base and other installations inside Iraq.

The first point of entry to understanding what is currently brewing across West Asia is understanding the mentality at play on both sides of the divide.

On one side, we have the Zionist regime and its Western allies, who are the aggressors and believe themselves to be fighting what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls a “seven-front war”. Although the front in the Gaza Strip has pervaded public consciousness over the past 23 months, overshadowing the wars on Lebanon, seizure of territory in Syria, bombing of Yemen, and attack on Iran, it is very much part of this wider war.

From the Israeli-American perspective, their ongoing war carries the goal of eliminating what is known as the Axis of Resistance, the leader of which is the Islamic Republic of Iran. The thinking clearly is that this period in time has provided a unique opportunity to crush the regional resistance and with it, achieve regime change in Tehran.

In June, the Israelis clearly got ahead of themselves and believed that they could inflict a similar blow in Iran to the blow they inflicted on Lebanese Hezbollah back in September of 2024. In the first few hours of the Zionist Regime’s illegal attack on Iran, their media boasted of landing such a blow. However, to everyone’s surprise, within 15 hours, the Iranians were back on their feet and began firing bursts of ballistic missiles into central “Tel Aviv”.

Even the US strikes didn’t inflict any kind of kill blow that degraded Iran sufficiently, as it proved more than anything that their nuclear facilities could survive US strikes, even if they were badly damaged. The United States certainly poses a major threat to Iran, but the takeaway here is that the Zionist regime can’t take them on alone.

If there is another battle between Iran and the Israelis, the Zionist Entity is already low on interceptor missiles, and its arsenal would be severely drained within around a week or so. We also still do not know the extent of the damage inflicted by Iran’s ballistic missile strikes, due to Israeli military censorship. Simply put, they don’t even allow the public to know the true number of soldiers killed and wounded in Gaza, so forget the notion that they’d admit what Iran did to them.

Another major player here is Lebanese Hezbollah, which appears to be successfully rebuilding itself and is at an intelligence deficit compared to what they had built up over decades and utilized late last year. Yet, what the Israelis do understand is that in the event that a conflict with Iran arises where Hezbollah chooses to enter the fight on the ground, they may face an existential battle for their very survival.

If, and this evidently depends on varying factors, Hezbollah chooses to launch an all-out ground offensive as Iran fires ballistic missiles in bursts across occupied Palestine, it is plausible that the Lebanese party will inflict a total defeat on the Israeli ground forces and seize huge swaths of territory in the north of Palestine.

The Zionist regime is now claiming to be preparing for mission impossible in the Gaza Strip, amassing troops in order to try and occupy Gaza City, an operation that would take between two to five years to complete, according to Israeli military estimates. It would also be extremely costly for the Israeli ground forces and their military vehicles. If they do commit to this, it would leave them open on the northern front. There is, however, the possibility that this is all a bluff.

If the Israelis are bluffing, they could be preparing for an offensive against Lebanon instead. The thinking here would be to try and halt Hezbollah’s rebuilding process, setting it back even further, and could even involve a ground operation, likely using Syrian territory to invade the Bekaa Valley area.

Such a conflict would be existential for Hezbollah, especially as the US works with the Lebanese government to impose a seizure of its weapons. A repeat of what occurred a year ago would work only to advance the US-Israeli goal of seizing Hezbollah’s weapons, while a victory could at the very least liberate Lebanese territory and represent a massive blow to the disarmament agenda.

Therefore, if Iran is currently in the scope of the Zionists, it would make strategic sense for them to either attack Lebanon first or launch a major offensive at the same time it attacks Iran.

The US withdrawal of forces from Iraq is another major indicator of a regional escalation involving Iran, specifically because of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) and the potential they have to inflict enormous damage, given that they enter the fold of the war.

Iraq’s PMU is yet to be mobilized, and its role in the ongoing regional conflict has been minimal. The reason for this is that if some 230,000 men are mobilized, or even a portion of them, it is difficult to suddenly put a halt to their operations, and this will mean a dramatic regional escalation, the likes of which the United States will not be able to manage inside Iraq and will instead use their economic levers as a primary weapon of war.

Depending on how far such a conflict is going to go, there is even the possibility that it could go global. While there is currently no evidence to support this notion, there has been talk that the US naval deployment to the Caribbean, triggering a mass militia mobilization across Venezuela, could be connected. Additionally, China and Russia could use the opportunity of a major Iran-US war to carry out some of their long-desired goals, at a time when Washington has diverted its resources to West Asia.

There is again the possibility that another attack on Iran could look similar to what the world witnessed during what is dubbed the “12-day war”, yet the same stalemate outcome would only lead us back to square one again and beget yet another war. At some point, something will have to give.

The reason why the danger of an all-out regional conflagration appears high as of now is purely down to the Israeli-US refusal to end their genocide against Gaza, indicating that they seek total defeat of the Axis of Resistance and nothing less. Inevitably, one side must win and the other lose; there is currently no such thing as deterrence for either side, only who will triumph and carve out a new regional reality.

September 3, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Seyed M. Marandi: Iran’s ‘End of Time’ Missile Ready for New War

Glenn Diesen | August 31, 2025

Seyed Mohammad Marandi is a professor at Tehran University and a former advisor to Iran’s Nuclear Negotiation Team. Prof. Marandi argues that another Israeli/US attack is likely coming, and Iran has prepared itself by developing new and more powerful missiles. Prof. Marandi also argues that the only influence the EU had over Iran was the threat of using the snap-back sanctions, and Iran will no longer listen to the EU, as the decision has been made to impose these sanctions.

September 2, 2025 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , , , , | Leave a comment

Iran: Path for Negotiations with US Not Closed

By Kyle Anzalone | The Libertarian Institute | September 2, 2025

A top Iranian official said a deal with the US is still possible, but Washington must drop its demands to limit Tehran’s missile program. Talks between the US and Iran broke off in June when Israel launched an unprovoked war against the Islamic Republic.

On Tuesday, Ali Larijani posted a statement from the Iranian Supreme National Security Council on X. “The path for negotiations with the US is not closed; yet these are the Americans who only pay lip service to talks and do not come to the table; and they wrongfully blame Iran for it,” he wrote. “WE INDEED PURSUE RATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS. By raising unrealizable issues such as missile restrictions, they set a path which negates any talks.”

Since Donald Trump returned to office, the US and Iran engaged in five rounds of negotiations aimed at establishing a new nuclear agreement and lifting sanctions. A sixth round of talks was scheduled, but Israel attacked Iran, halting the diplomatic process. Iranian officials said the talks were progressing towards a deal before the attack.

The US participated in the Israeli war on Iran. Tehran has demanded that Washington give assurances that the US and Israel will not resume strikes on Iran while the talks are ongoing. However, Trump has not responded to Tehran’s demand and has threatened to attack Iran if Tehran restarts its nuclear enrichment program.

Trump has pressed Iran to agree to a new nuclear agreement after he scrapped the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) during his first administration. The 2015 Iran Nuclear deal established a strict inspection regime and limitations on Tehran’s nuclear program.

After Trump broke the agreement and reimposed sanctions on Iran, Tehran exceeded the limits set in the nuclear deal. In response to a series of Israeli assassinations and sabotage attacks, Tehran enriched uranium to a higher level and established a stockpile of 60% enriched Uranium.

Tehran expelled international nuclear inspectors following Israel’s attack on Iran in June.

September 2, 2025 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , , , | Leave a comment

UN Assembly Moves to Geneva After U.S. Bars Palestinian Delegation

IMEMC | September 2, 2025

The United Nations General Assembly will convene its September session in Geneva instead of New York, following the United States’ refusal to grant entry visas to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and dozens of senior officials.

The relocation marks a rare institutional challenge to the host nation and reflects mounting global frustration over Washington’s obstruction of Palestinian participation amid Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza.

The U.S. State Department justified the visa denial on grounds of “national security,” accusing the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization of “undermining peace efforts” through legal appeals to the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.

These appeals include formal charges of genocide and apartheid against Israel, claims the U.S. argues breach diplomatic norms and politicize international legal forums.

The decision affects approximately 80 Palestinian officials, although the Palestinian Mission to the UN in New York will continue operating under a limited waiver.

The move has drawn sharp criticism from legal experts and international diplomats, who say it violates the 1947 UN Headquarters Agreement, which obligates the host country to facilitate access for all accredited delegations.

In 1988, the UN relocated its session to Geneva after the U.S. denied a visa to Yasser Arafat, then head of the PLO. The current relocation is similarly aimed at ensuring full Palestinian participation, particularly in a scheduled September 22 segment dedicated to Palestinian rights.

European leaders have condemned the U.S. decision. Spain’s Prime Minister described the move as “unjust,” while France reaffirmed that UN platforms must remain accessible to all recognized delegations.

The Geneva session also coincides with growing momentum among several countries, including France, the United Kingdom, and Canada, to formally recognize Palestinian statehood, adding diplomatic weight to the proceedings.

Palestinian officials have denounced the U.S. action as a deliberate attempt to silence their voice at a time when Gaza faces mass displacement, starvation, and what UN experts have described as genocidal violence.

President Abbas is expected to address the Assembly in Geneva, where he will call for international protection, recognition of Palestinian sovereignty, and accountability for war crimes.

The Geneva session is expected to amplify calls for action under the “Uniting for Peace” resolution, which empowers the General Assembly to recommend collective measures when the Security Council is unable to act due to political obstruction or lack of consensus.

Advocacy groups are urging the UN to consider deploying international protection forces to Gaza and to suspend Israel’s privileges within the UN system until humanitarian access is restored.

Beyond its logistical implications, the relocation signals a deeper shift in global diplomacy, where procedural justice and international law are being reasserted against political obstruction.

The Geneva gathering is expected to draw high-level delegations, legal experts, and civil society leaders, all converging to confront the worsening crisis and to chart a path forward for Palestinian self-determination.

September 2, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Department of War?

By Ron Paul | September 2, 2025

Last week President Trump took steps to re-name the Department of Defense the “Department of War.” The President explained his rationale for the name change: “It used to be called the Department of War and it had a stronger sound. We want defense, but we want offense too … As Department of War we won everything… and I think we… have to go back to that.”

At first it sounds like a terrible idea. A “Department of War” may well make war more likely – the “stronger sound” may embolden the US government to take us into even more wars. There would no longer be any need for the pretext that we take the nation to war to defend this country and its interests – and only as a last resort.

As Clinton Administration official Madeleine Albright famously asked of Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin Powell when she was pushing for US war in the Balkans, “What’s the point of having this superb military that you’re always talking about if we can’t use it?”

So yes, that is a real danger. But at the same time, the US has been at war nearly constantly since the end of World War II, so it’s not like the “Defense Department” has been in any way a defensive department.

With that in mind, returning the Department of Defense to the Department of War, which is how it started, may not be such a bad idea after all – as long as we can be honest about the rest of the terms around our warmaking.

If we return to a “War Department,” then we should also return to the Constitutional requirement that any military activity engaged in by that department short of defending against an imminent attack on the US requires a Congressional declaration of war. That was the practice followed when it was called the War Department and we should return to it.

Dropping the notion that we have a “Defense Department” would free us from the charade that our massive military spending budget was anything but a war budget. No more “defense appropriations” bills in Congress. Let’s call them “war appropriations” bills. Let the American people understand what so much of their hard-earned money is being taken to support. It’s not “defense.” It’s “war.” And none of it has benefitted the American people.

Trump misunderstands one very important thing in his stated desire to return to a “War Department,” however. A tougher sounding name did not win the wars. Before the name change, which happened after the infamous National Security Act of 1947 that created the CIA and the permanent national security state, we won wars because for the most part we followed the Constitution and had a Congressional declaration of war. That way the war had a beginning and end and a clear set of goals. Since World War II the United States has not declared war even though it has been in a continuous state of war. It is no coincidence that none of these “wars” have been won. From 1950 Korea to 2025 Yemen and everything in between.

So go ahead and change it back to the “Department of War.” But let’s also stop pretending that maintaining the global US military empire is “defense.” It’s not.

September 2, 2025 Posted by | Militarism | | Leave a comment

Putin envoy names two global powers for joint projects in Arctic

RT | September 2, 2025

Russia views both the US and China as potential partners for future oil and gas projects in the Arctic and would consider three-way investment opportunities, according to Kirill Dmitriev, President Vladimir Putin’s aide on international economic affairs.

Moscow and Beijing already cooperate closely on state-sponsored economic initiatives. China has invested more than 700 billion rubles ($8.7 billion) in over 50 projects facilitated by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Dmitriev, its CEO, told reporters on Tuesday in Beijing.

Dmitriev has played a central role in normalization efforts with Washington since US President Donald Trump took office in January. He argues that joint ventures, particularly in the energy-rich and largely untapped Arctic, would offer significant economic benefits, should the two nations overcome their differences.

“Russo-Chinese projects are happening right now. Russo-American projects happened in the past and have the potential to happen in the future,” Dmitriev said, when asked about Russia’s positioning relative to the two rival superpowers.

“Russia is considering potential Russo-Sino-American opportunities, including in the Arctic and in the energy industry,” he added. “Investors could gain value by joining forces. Also, joint-investment can serve as a stabilizing element for future political interactions.”

Successive US presidents have branded China a primary geopolitical rival. Trump administration officials have accused previous governments of driving Moscow closer to Beijing by backing Kiev.

Russia and China describe their partnership as a long-standing strategic choice grounded in shared values. Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated Beijing’s commitment to a fairer multipolar world order during this week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, which Putin attended along with leaders from Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

September 2, 2025 Posted by | Economics | , , | Leave a comment

US escalates its crawling aggression on Venezuela as Caracas prepares defenses

By Drago Bosnic | September 2, 2025

The United States Navy (USN) and Marine Corps (USMC) keep increasing their military presence in the Southern Caribbean, more specifically in the vicinity of Venezuela’s coast. The last days of August saw a significant uptick in their activity, including American warships in eastbound transit through the Panama Canal. Only a week prior, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt stated that US President Donald Trump was “prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into [the country] and to bring those responsible to justice”, also insisting that “many Caribbean nations and many nations in the region” supposedly “applauded the administration’s counterdrug operations and efforts”.

Interestingly, Mrs. Leavitt never mentioned which specific countries support such actions, nor did she explain how exactly warships armed with medium-range cruise missiles can be used in the supposed “heightened counternarcotics efforts”. Worse yet, the increasingly belligerent Trump administration is openly accusing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of supposedly “heading a narco cartel”, using it as a pretext to escalate its crawling aggression on the South American nation. The US State Department website unequivocally says that President Maduro allegedly “helped manage and ultimately lead the Cartel of the Suns, comprised of high-ranking Venezuelan officials”. Expectedly, without verifiable evidence.

“As he gained power in Venezuela, Maduro participated in a corrupt and violent narco-terrorism conspiracy with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. Maduro negotiated multi-ton shipments of FARC-produced cocaine; directed the Cartel of the Suns to provide military-grade weapons to the FARC; coordinated with narcotics traffickers in Honduras and other countries to facilitate large-scale drug trafficking; and solicited assistance from FARC leadership in training an unsanctioned militia group that functioned, in essence, as an armed forces unit for the Cartel of the Suns”, the accusation reads.

“In March 2020, Maduro was charged in the Southern District of New York for narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices,” the website adds, also claiming: “After initially offering a reward offer of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Maduro in 2020, the Department of State on January 10, 2025, increased the reward offer to up to $25 million. On August 7, 2025, the Department announced the further increase in the reward offer to up to $50 million after the Department of Treasury sanctioned Cartel of the Suns as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on July 25, 2025.”

The US also brags that “Maduro, as leader of Cartel of the Suns, is the first target in the history of the Narcotics Rewards Program with a reward offer exceeding $25 million”. Once again, there’s zero evidence to support a single claim on President Maduro’s “corrupt and violent narco-terrorism conspiracy”. On the other hand, Washington DC has no qualms about backing actual narco-terrorist entities, such as the Albanian extremists currently based in NATO-occupied Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohia, to say nothing of well over half a century of CIA-run drug-related back ops in virtually every country south of the Rio Grande. However, despite decades of sanctions and other forms of pressure, Caracas refuses to budge.

During his first term, Trump was particularly aggressive toward both Venezuela and Iran. Back in 2017, he threatened that the US has “many options, including a possible military option, if necessary”. He made similar statements with regards to Tehran, although he never acted on either during his previous presidency. However, Trump is now far more belligerent and has attacked Iran. Although it largely failed (despite his insistence that it was a “total success”), this demonstrates his willingness to engage in direct armed aggression. American forces in the region are far too few to allow a full-blown invasion, but they’re enough to be used in limited long-range precision strikes, likely on critical infrastructure (particularly in coastal regions).

Washington DC certainly understands this would be nowhere near enough to defeat the Venezuelan military, but it’s possible that the Trump administration is hoping to destabilize Caracas politically. For instance, destroying or damaging the remaining oil refineries would disrupt normal economic activity and exacerbate the Latin American country’s troubles that stem from illegal US sanctions and constant pressure. In turn, Washington DC probably expects protests to erupt or even a full-blown rebellion. This approach is quite common whenever the US finds it more challenging to invade directly. And indeed, Venezuela’s complex geography effectively makes it a combination of Afghanistan and Vietnam, which is an absolute nightmare for any remotely sensible military planner.

Venezuela already deployed around 15,000 troops in the states of Zulia and Táchira (both bordering Colombia). These units are mostly comprised of special police and military personnel, indicating that Caracas is worried about cross-border raids and infiltration. Such measures are perfectly understandable given America’s propensity to use sabotage and terrorist attacks to undermine targeted countries. Back in 2020, the CIA launched the so-called “Operation Gideon” precisely from Colombia, with two boats carrying approximately 60 insurgents commanded by two former members of the US Army Special Forces (better known as “Green Berets”). Both were employed as mercenaries by Silvercorp USA, a Florida-based PMC.

Such private military enterprises are quite common in the US and are used by the Pentagon in order to maintain plausible deniability in case of failure. Precisely this happened to “Operation Gideon”, which was effectively some sort of Trump’s “mini-Bay of Pigs” moment. This failure was attributed to multiple factors, with several US intelligence services accusing one another of “major security breaches”. In fact, back in January, Jordan Goudreau, the head of Silvercorp (himself a former “Green Beret”), accused the CIA and FBI of “sabotaging the operation”. However, whether that’s true or not is irrelevant, as Venezuela needs to be prepared for any similar incursions, particularly now that such actions might serve as the vanguard of direct US aggression.

Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst.

September 2, 2025 Posted by | Militarism | , | Leave a comment

Sahra Wagenknecht: Europe Subjugated & Propagandised for War

Glenn Diesen | August 31, 2025

Sahra Wagenknecht is a prominent figure in German politics, a former member of the Bundestag and the European Parliament. Wagenknecht discusses Europe’s suborindation to the US, the need for an external enemy, the demonisation of Russia, and war enthusiasm that is destroying Europe.

September 1, 2025 Posted by | Economics, Militarism, Russophobia | , , , | Leave a comment

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