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American Academy of Pediatrics Hit With Federal RICO Lawsuit for Vaccine Safety Fraud

By Nicolas Hulscher, MPH | Focal Points | January 21, 2026

For decades, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has been treated like an untouchable authority on child health — the gold standard that parents, doctors, schools, and lawmakers were told to trust without question. But today, that image collapses. Children’s Health Defense (CHD) and multiple plaintiffs just filed a federal lawsuit alleging the AAP spent decades running a racketeering operation that sold parents false safety assurances about the childhood vaccine schedule.

This isn’t another “vaccine debate” lawsuit. It’s a RICO fraud case—the same legal weapon used against organized crime and the tobacco industry. The allegation is blunt and devastating: the AAP allegedly manufactured false certainty around vaccine schedule safety, shut down legitimate scientific scrutiny, and promoted sweeping assurances that were never validated through rigorous real-world safety testing—while operating within a system shaped by vaccine-manufacturer funding and financial incentives tied to high pediatric vaccination rates.

One of the most explosive points in the complaint is what it forces into the open. The cumulative childhood schedule has never been safety-tested the way any reasonable parent would assume it has. The lawsuit points to Institute of Medicine findings from 2002 and 2013 calling for more research and acknowledging the lack of proper vaccinated vs. unvaccinated comparisons. Yet the AAP continued portraying the schedule as thoroughly tested and unquestionably safe, shaping pediatric care nationwide through repetition, authority, and pressure—not proof.

The complaint also describes what parents have learned the hard way. This system doesn’t merely recommend vaccines. It demands compliance. Physicians who questioned the schedule or deviated from AAP protocols were professionally targeted, disciplined, and financially crushed. The message was clear: follow the script, or lose your career.

The lawsuit further argues that the AAP’s public reassurances were built on “theoretical” talking points that became institutional doctrine, including the infamous claim that infants could tolerate an extreme number of vaccines at once. According to the plaintiffs, this wasn’t evidence—it was marketing disguised as medical authority, repeated in clinics to silence questions and keep the assembly line moving.

Then there’s the part that makes it all make sense: money. The complaint highlights conflicts of interest and financial entanglements with vaccine manufacturers and aligned institutions. The AAP presents itself as independent and science-first, while operating in a world of corporate sponsorships, incentives, and industry relationships that would be unacceptable in any genuinely transparent public health organization.

This is why the lawsuit matters. It’s not about a single product. It challenges the entire protection racket that has propped up the pediatric vaccine industry for decades. AAP’s model has relied on one rule: the schedule is safe because we say it’s safe—and anyone who demands real proof gets smeared, censored, or destroyed.

The lawsuit seeks financial damages for the families and physicians harmed, demands disclosure of the lack of comprehensive safety testing behind the cumulative schedule, and aims to stop the AAP from making blanket, unqualified claims that the schedule is “safe and effective” as if that question has already been settled.

If this case advances, discovery alone could expose what the public has been denied for decades—and that would be a historic victory for medical transparency, informed consent, and accountability in pediatrics. For years, parents were told to “trust the experts,” while legitimate safety questions were mocked, censored, or punished. Now those questions are headed to the one place the system can’t silence them with talking points: federal court.

Summary

  • CHD and multiple plaintiffs filed a federal RICO lawsuit against the AAP, accusing the organization of long-term fraud and racketeering tied to vaccine safety claims.
  • The lawsuit alleges the AAP violated RICO by engaging in a sustained pattern of deceptive safety messaging about the CDC childhood vaccine schedule, while operating within a financial ecosystem tied to vaccine-manufacturer funding and incentive-driven pediatric vaccination practices.
  • The lawsuit alleges the AAP repeatedly promoted false certainty that the childhood vaccine schedule is thoroughly tested and safe.
  • The complaint highlights the absence of proper vaccinated vs. unvaccinated comparisons for cumulative schedule safety, referencing IOM reports calling for more research.
  • Plaintiffs argue the AAP relied on theoretical reassurance (not real-world schedule safety trials) to shut down scrutiny and concerns.
  • The suit includes physicians claiming they suffered professional and economic harm for deviating from AAP vaccine orthodoxy or questioning safety claims.
  • It also includes families alleging severe injury or death following routine vaccination and describes how medical judgment was allegedly overridden by rigid AAP-driven standards.
  • The complaint raises concerns about conflicts of interest, alleging financial ties and aligned incentives undermined the credibility of AAP’s public safety assurances.
  • The lawsuit seeks financial damages, mandatory disclosure about safety-testing gaps, and to stop the AAP from making unqualified vaccine safety claims.

Nicolas Hulscher, MPH

Epidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough Foundation

January 23, 2026 Posted by | Corruption, Deception, Full Spectrum Dominance, Science and Pseudo-Science | | Leave a comment

Mom Tells Trump: Dumping Sewage Sludge on Farmland Won’t Make America Healthy Again

By Jill Erzen | The Defender | January 20, 2026

America cannot be “healthy again” while the EPA continues to allow states to dump treated sewage sludge on farmland near homes and schools, said Paula Yockel, founder of the nonprofit Mission503.

Late last year, the Oklahoma mother posted an open letter to President Donald Trump on YouTube, urging him to address what she called a nationwide public health crisis enabled by a decades-old federal rule that allows toxic sludge to be spread on agricultural land.

The rule “is betraying all of us and harming our great nation,” Yockel said in her video.

At the center of Yockel’s campaign is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) biosolids regulation, Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations Part 503. The regulation governs the application of treated sewage sludge on farmland.

The rule allows municipalities to market sludge as agricultural fertilizer if it meets federal standards. Yockel said the practice directly contradicts national promises to improve public health.

She told The Defender that mothers in rural areas share posts on social media about their sick babies, but most people remain unaware of the causes.

“Those are fighting words to me,” Yockel said. “We cannot say we want to make America healthy again and continue to dump our sewage where millions of people live.”

The 503 rule enables the disposal of industrial and municipal waste — including human feces, pharmaceuticals, hormones, solvents and “forever chemicals” — onto farmland in communities where families live, work and play, she said.

“The 503 rule is spreading massive volumes of toxic chemicals and human pathogens into our communities, harming our people with illness and loss of freedoms, polluting our air, water, soil and food supply, and compromising our national security,” she said.

‘We don’t even know’ which foods are grown in sludge

Under the rule, sewage sludge is treated at wastewater plants and then applied to land as fertilizer. The EPA refers to the material as “biosolids,” though the agency notes the terms “biosolids” and “sewage sludge” are often used interchangeably.

The treatment at wastewater plants doesn’t make the material safe, Yockel said.

“The toxic gases, vapors and pathogens emitting from the sludge, and the stench and flies, will travel for miles,” she said in her video.

The foods grown on land treated with sewage sludge, and the livestock grazed there, enter the nation’s food supply without any disclosure. “We don’t even know which fruits and vegetables, beef, dairy and grains are affected,” she said.

Yockel is asking for a meeting with Trump to present research she said shows the practice is harming rural communities, contaminating the food supply and undermining national health goals.

The White House has not responded to her request for a meeting, Yockel said.

“There is a significant firewall in the way,” Yockel said. “People don’t want to touch this topic.”

Nausea, headaches and dizziness ‘were almost immediate’

In a January Substack post, Yockel wrote that she and her husband bought land outside Oklahoma City in 2004. Some days, she noticed a persistent, foul odor. In 2008, she watched trucks dump what she described as “black, oozing muck” on the farm next to her home.

“Nausea, headaches, GI [gastrointestinal] distress and dizziness were almost immediate,” Yockel wrote.

State regulators told her that the landowner had a permit and that the sludge was applied correctly. However, officials acknowledged the “odor is very bad and the flies have been worse than ever this year,” according to Yockel.

At the time, Yockel said, her family did not immediately connect their health problems to sewage exposure.

“When sludge was spread on farmland next to our home, we were convinced it made us sick,” she wrote. “But we didn’t really connect the dots between sewage exposure and the unusual illnesses we’d get.”

She described symptoms that included blistering rashes, heart arrhythmias, MRSA infections and severe strep throat.

“We definitely didn’t realize it may have caused the health problems during my pregnancy and the risky delivery of our son,” she wrote. “We assumed these things were just part of life. Plus, authorities were assuring us that spreading ‘biosolids’ on the land around us was safe and couldn’t harm us.”

Yockel and her husband eventually began working with researchers to test air, water, soil and clinical samples in sludged environments over roughly six years.

Land that has had sewer sludge applied in accordance with the 503 rule “is exposing Americans to pathogens like staph and strep, viruses, human parasites, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria,” she said.

The sludge also contains carcinogens, neurotoxins, endocrine disruptors and immune-disrupting chemicals.

Hospital data show ‘more than seven times the risk for bone cancer’

Publicly available Oklahoma hospital discharge data, which Yockel displays in her open letter to Trump, show stark disparities between one community where sludge has been applied for decades and the rest of the state.

“The community shows over 125 diagnoses with a statistically significant increased risk compared to the state,” she said. The diagnoses include infections, cancers, heart and lung disease, neurological disorders and birth defects.

The data show “more than double the risk for myeloid leukemia and more than seven times the risk for bone cancer,” she added.

Independent reporting has increasingly drawn attention to the issue. Investigate Midwest reported that sewage sludge can contain high concentrations of chemicals linked to cancer and birth defects. The health risks have prompted lawsuits and bans in parts of the country.

In Oklahoma, a major farm insurance provider recently excluded coverage for biosolids-related damages.

In 2025, the EPA acknowledged that biosolids containing elevated levels of PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, may pose risks to human health. The agency also warned that drinking water near application sites — common in parts of Oklahoma — can be dangerous.

However, the EPA hasn’t issued new nationwide regulations. Instead, the agency leaves the monitoring of biosolids for PFAS contamination to the states.

In Oklahoma alone, Investigate Midwest reported that more than 80% of wastewater sludge ends up on crop fields, with about 40% coming from Oklahoma City. The city permits biosolids application on roughly 11,000 acres and produces about 350 tons of sludge each day.

Since the early 1980s, applying sewage sludge to land has provided a low-cost disposal method. Farmers receive the material for free after it is treated with lime and tested for heavy metals.

“We’ve been doing this across our nation for decades and still are today,” Yockel said in her video letter to Trump.

She said the system misleads farmers and shifts long-term costs onto communities.

“Their lands and livelihoods are being destroyed because this rule allows sewage to be marketed as biosolids, and they’re told it’s cheap and a beneficial fertilizer,” she said.

‘A lot of power and money supporting the myth that sludge is a good idea’

Maine offers a glimpse of what change can look like — and how complicated it can be.

In 2022, Maine became the first state to ban the use of sewage sludge on farmland after widespread PFAS contamination was discovered in soil, water and food, according to Inside Climate News.

Testing later showed elevated levels of the “forever chemicals” in farmers’ blood.

But Maine has struggled to manage the waste it can no longer spread on land, as it faces limited landfill capacity and high disposal costs.

Yockel said the challenge underscores the need for national infrastructure investment, not incremental regulation.

“Policy change alone doesn’t fix this problem,” she said. “We must have infrastructure solutions.”

She rejected landfills as a long-term solution and said managing individual chemicals like PFAS misses the broader risk.

“You cannot regulate sewage to safety,” Yockel said. “Managing PFAS does nothing but check a box and move on down the road.”

Instead, she said a secondary tier of infrastructure is crucial for managing sewage solids because today’s wastewater treatment plants focus on the water and are not engineered to dispose of solids.

“Hazardous waste cannot become fertilizer by the stroke of a pen,” she said. “It is time for courageous, honest facts around the 503 rule because we must have real solutions.”

That call for action runs up against entrenched interests that have kept the practice in place for decades, according to Yockel.

“There is a lot of power and money supporting the myth that sludge is a good idea,” she said.

Public outcry may be the most immediate path forward, she said.

“The results may be through public awareness. We are just trying to save our nation from the harm of this wretched practice.”

For Yockel, the stakes are clear.

“Once we understand the impact on our nation’s health, we’re going to have to make a choice,” she said. “When we recognize the cost of what we are doing today, the cost of change is small.”

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.

January 23, 2026 Posted by | Environmentalism | | Leave a comment

NIAID Funds Gain-of-Function Study Engineering Novel Influenza Viruses

Despite claims the U.S. has stopped bankrolling gain-of-function experiments

By Jon Fleetwood | January 23, 2026

A new peer-reviewed study published this week states that federally funded researchers genetically engineered viruses that gained biological functions not present in any naturally occurring strain, including new host-entry mechanisms, cross-species antigen display, and mammalian lethality.

In multiple cases, viral surface proteins from one species and virus family were deliberately inserted into the genetic backbone of an entirely different virus, creating laboratory chimeras that bridge species and viral lineages that do not naturally mix.

The paper, “Immunogenicity and Efficacy of a Rabies-Based Vaccine against Highly Pathogenic Influenza H5N1 Virus,” appears in Emerging Microbes & Infections.

The study documents three distinct categories of functional gain:

  1. transfer of influenza entry machinery into foreign viral backbones,
  2. reprogramming of rabies virus to perform influenza functions, and
  3. creation of new influenza chimeras that are lethal in mammals.

(Editor’s note: This article makes no claims about virology and/or terrain theory. It is reporting what NIAID-funded scientists claim to be doing with American taxdollars.)

The authors state:

“This study was supported by… the Center for Research on Influenza Pathogenesis and Transmission (CRIPT), one of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) funded Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Response (CEIRR; contract # 75N93021C00014), and by NIAID contract SEM-CIVIC (contract number 75N93019C00051).”

NIAD is under the control of Director Jeffery Taubenberger, who is directing U.S. taxdollars toward influenza gain-of-function experiments while holding a patent for an influenza vaccine at the center of the Trump administrations $500 million influenza vaccine program.

This raises national security and conflict of interest concerns, as it represents the simultaneous creation of a lucrative problem and solution.

NIAD is under the authority of U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS), which is led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Animal experiments were approved under:

“the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of Thomas Jefferson University (TJU).”

Influenza Host-Entry Functions Transferred Into a Different Virus

The authors state that they created a vesicular stomatitis virus whose native entry protein was replaced with influenza H5:

“VSV∆G-H5-GFP encoding either the clade 1 H5 (A/Viet Nam/1203/2004(H5N1) or the circulating clade 2.3.4.4b cow was generated as described.”

This describes a virus that now uses influenza hemagglutinin to enter host cells—a function VSV does not naturally possess.

It also represents a direct cross-species and cross-virus transfer of host-entry machinery, merging an avian influenza protein with a livestock-associated strain and a human-infecting viral backbone in a single engineered system.

Rabies Virus Reprogrammed to Display & Deliver Influenza Antigen

The study confirms that a rabies virus was engineered to express influenza H5:

“We developed a rabies virus-based H5 vaccine (RABV-H5) by insertion of a synthetic full-length codon-optimized HA ORF of the Influenza virus A/Vietnam 1203/2004(H5N1) into the BNSP333 rabies vaccine vector between the N and P genes.”

The authors further state:

“Presenting both RABV-G and the antigen of choice on the surface.”

This confirms that a neurotropic virus was genetically modified to perform a new influenza-specific function.

The lab construct combines a mammalian neurotropic virus with an avian influenza surface antigen, creating a synthetic cross-species hybrid that does not exist in nature.

Creation of Novel Influenza Viruses That Did Not Exist in Nature

The paper says that new influenza viruses were constructed by genome segment replacement:

“PR8-H5N1, a recombinant Puerto-Rico 8 influenza A virus (A/PR8) in which the HA and NA genomic segments have been replaced with the respective segments of H5N1.”

A second engineered virus is identified:

“Influenza virus A/PR8-H5N1 bovine/Ohio/439/2024 (2024).”

These viruses did not exist prior to laboratory construction.

Engineered Viruses Demonstrated Mammalian Pathogenicity

The authors report intranasal infection of mice with the engineered viruses:

“On days 104 or 150, mice were challenged by IN instillation with 0.05 ml of either 1E5 TCID50 of Influenza A/PR8-H5N1 (Viet Nam 1203 or Cow) or with 100 pfu of HPAI-H5N1 Viet Nam 1203 (2004) diluted in PBS+1% heat-inactivated FBS.”

They further confirm the dose was lethal:

“[O]n day 104 were challenged by IN instillation with a 1E5 pfu lethal dose of A/PR8-H5N1 Viet Nam 1203 virus (>100LD50).”

The paper documents viral replication in lungs:

“While unvaccinated mice had about 1E6 TCID50/ml of replicating virus in the lungs.”

And describes lung pathology:

“Severe and chronic bronchiolocentric infection with bronchiolar and peribronchiolar infiltration of lymphocytes, associated with interstitial pneumonitis and expanded alveolar wall due to edema and inflammation.”

Bottom Line

The new study makes clear that gain-of-function virus creation is allegedly still being carried out with U.S. taxpayer dollars, despite the national security and biosafety risks such work poses to the very population funding it.

Congress, the White House, the Department of Energy, the FBI, the CIA, and Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) have confirmed that the COVID-19 pandemic was likely the result of lab-engineered pathogen manipulation.

Why does the U.S. continue to fund the same experiments that are said to have caused the last pandemic?

January 23, 2026 Posted by | Militarism | | Leave a comment

Villains of Judea: Philip Esformes and the Largest Healthcare Fraud in American History

José Niño Unfiltered | January 20, 2026

If there’s one thing the Trump era has taught us, it’s that President Donald Trump is hyper-focused on serving the interests of the slimiest elements of American Jewry.

On a December evening in 2020, Trump granted clemency to Philip Esformes, a South Florida nursing home operator serving a 20-year sentence for orchestrating what federal prosecutors called the largest individual healthcare fraud scheme ever prosecuted in American history. The commutation freed Esformes from prison after he had served just over four years, though it left his conviction and roughly $44 million in financial penalties intact.

Born in 1968 into an Orthodox Jewish family, Philip Esformes grew up surrounded by both faith and the nursing home business. His father, Rabbi Morris Esformes, built a reputation as a prominent facility owner and major philanthropist within Jewish communities. Public records trace the family’s ancestry to Salonika, Greece, historically home to a thriving Sephardic Jewish population. The elder Esformes created a legacy in long-term care, and his son appeared destined to follow that path.

Philip Esformes entered the healthcare industry and eventually controlled a network of skilled nursing facilities and assisted living centers across South Florida. By the mid-2000s, his business empire seemed prosperous on the surface. Yet federal investigators were already examining troubling patterns in how his facilities operated and billed government healthcare programs.

The first warning signs emerged in 2006 when Esformes and associates connected to Larkin Community Hospital reached a civil settlement with federal and Florida authorities. The $15.4 million agreement resolved allegations involving kickbacks and admitting patients for medically unnecessary treatment. Though the settlement required no admission of wrongdoing, prosecutors later pointed to this episode as evidence that suspicious conduct continued unchecked.

A decade later, federal authorities brought criminal charges that painted a portrait of systematic fraud on an unprecedented scale. In July 2016, prosecutors indicted Esformes on multiple counts related to what they described as a roughly $1.3 billion scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid. The government’s case detailed an intricate operation designed to maximize profits by manipulating patient care and gaming federal reimbursement rules.

According to court filings, Esformes orchestrated a system that moved beneficiaries among hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and assisted living centers in carefully timed patterns. These transfers satisfied Medicare eligibility requirements such as mandatory three-day hospital stays and 100-day skilled nursing limits, allowing facilities to restart billing cycles regardless of whether patients actually needed the care. Prosecutors alleged that medical decisions took a back seat to financial calculations.

The scheme allegedly extended beyond unnecessary services. Federal authorities claimed Esformes paid kickbacks and bribes to physicians and physician assistants who referred patients to his network. These illegal payments flowed through intermediaries and were disguised as legitimate business expenses. Some payments were allegedly hidden as charitable donations, prosecutors said, while others appeared in fake contracts and invoices designed to conceal their true purpose.

Court documents described additional allegations involving bribery of a Florida healthcare regulator. According to government filings, Esformes sought advance notice of facility inspections, allowing him to prepare for oversight visits that might otherwise uncover problems. The government’s detention memo outlined roughly $1 billion in fraudulent claims based on data from 2009 through 2016 alone, noting that the total loss likely climbed higher when accounting for other years and Medicaid billing.

The scope of the alleged fraud extended into Esformes’ personal life. Prosecutors claimed he used proceeds from the scheme to fund an extravagant lifestyle and engage in unrelated criminal conduct. Among the most notable allegations was his purported payment of bribes to a University of Pennsylvania basketball coach to facilitate his son’s admission to the school. This conduct, while separate from the healthcare fraud, illustrated how prosecutors believed illegal profits financed various forms of corruption.

After a lengthy trial in 2019, a federal jury convicted Esformes on numerous counts including conspiracy to defraud the United States, kickback violations, money laundering, federal program bribery conspiracy, and obstruction of justice. U.S. District Judge Robert Scola of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida sentenced him to 20 years in federal prison and imposed roughly $5.5 million in restitution along with approximately $38.7 million in forfeiture penalties.

Throughout the legal proceedings, Esformes and his defense team fought the charges on multiple fronts. They raised concerns about prosecutorial conduct, particularly allegations that federal authorities improperly accessed attorney-client privileged materials during their investigation. These claims sparked a significant legal battle that continued through the appeals process. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately affirmed the conviction in 2023, concluding that suppression and exclusion remedies adequately addressed any prosecutorial missteps and that dismissing the entire case was unwarranted.

The commutation from President Trump arrived in late December 2020, during the final weeks of his first term. Reporting on the clemency decision highlighted support from prominent figures and faith-based advocacy organizations. The Orthodox Jewish non-profit Aleph Institute played a significant role in pushing for Esformes’ release, according to investigative journalism. Supporters portrayed him as a devout man who had suffered enough and deserved compassion. Critics, however, viewed the commutation as an example of how personal connections and Jewish advocacy networks could influence presidential mercy outside traditional Department of Justice clemency procedures.

Even with his prison sentence commuted, Esformes’ legal troubles persisted. Federal prosecutors announced plans to retry him on counts where the original jury had deadlocked. In 2021, Judge Scola set bond at an eye-popping $50 million and imposed strict restrictions on his travel documents, reflecting concerns about flight risk. These proceedings stretched on for years as both sides negotiated over the remaining charges.

In February 2024, Esformes reached a plea agreement with prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and received a sentence of time served. Under the agreement, prosecutors dismissed the other pending counts, finally closing the door on the criminal case that had consumed more than eight years of litigation. The plea brought a measure of closure to a prosecution that had become one of the most closely watched healthcare fraud cases in American legal history.

Yet new troubles emerged later that same year. In October 2024, Miami-Dade County authorities arrested Esformes on felony charges including victim or witness tampering and criminal mischief connected to a domestic violence incident. The arrest generated fresh headlines and prompted renewed scrutiny of Trump’s clemency decisions. The New York Times reported on the charges and placed them within a broader examination of how some clemency recipients had reoffended after receiving presidential mercy. Some news accounts later indicated that prosecutors dropped the domestic violence case, though the arrest remained part of the public record.

In freeing Esformes, Donald Trump once again proves his blind fealty to the worst villains of Judea, especially its underworld cohort, reducing the presidency to a rubber stamp for Jewish billion-dollar thefts that bleed America dry. As posterity pens the verdict, Trump’s populist facade crumbles to dust: a stalking horse galloping blindly for Jewish overlords like the Esformes clan, forsaking America’s preservation for pan-Judah’s gain.

January 23, 2026 Posted by | Corruption, Deception | | Leave a comment

US sanctions Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad over alleged Hamas links

MEMO | January 23, 2026

The United States has imposed sanctions on the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, accusing the organisation of supporting Hamas and engaging in deceptive fundraising practices, according to a decision announced on Wednesday.

The sanctions, which also target six charitable organisations operating in the Gaza Strip, include freezing any assets held within the United States and prohibiting US citizens and companies from conducting transactions with the listed entities.

According to the US Treasury Department, the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad was “founded and operated by elements linked to Hamas,” claiming that the movement exercises control over the organisation’s strategic and operational activities. The department also cited the presence of individuals within the conference who have previously been placed on US sanctions lists.

Founded in February 2017, the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad was launched during a large gathering in Istanbul attended by Palestinians from around 50 countries. The organisation describes itself as a grassroots framework aimed at unifying Palestinians in the diaspora, enhancing their political engagement, and reinforcing their role in the Palestinian national movement.

Based in Lebanon, the conference has organized events and conferences in several countries, including Turkey, and has participated in political and popular initiatives related to the Palestinian cause. Its founders say the conference serves as a coordinating umbrella for hundreds of Palestinian institutions worldwide and stress that it does not seek to replace the Palestine Liberation Organisation, but rather to complement its role.

In response to the US decision, the conference has described itself as an independent and open organisation representing a broad spectrum of Palestinian political affiliations. It rejected the accusations, stating that its activities are public and focus on political advocacy, popular mobilisation, and humanitarian support.

The sanctions decision comes amid heightened US scrutiny of organizations accused of links to Hamas, particularly in the context of the ongoing war in Gaza.

January 23, 2026 Posted by | Full Spectrum Dominance, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Leave a comment

Peace Plan Phase 2 Without Phase 1: Can the US Really Bring Peace to Gaza?

By Abbas Hashemite – New Eastern Outlook – January 22, 2026

US President Donald Trump announced Phase 2 of the Gaza Peace Plan despite the failure of Phase 1 to bring any relief to the Palestinians, reasserting the fact that it only intends to legitimize the Israeli occupation.

On January 16, the United States announced the launch of the 2nd phase of the infamous 20-point Gaza Peace Plan, which is supposed to end Israel’s genocidal operations against native Palestinians in Gaza. The Trump administration portrays Phase 1 of the Gaza Peace Plan as a success. However, the reality on the ground is in sheer contrast to the US government’s claims. Most of the expectations of Phase 1 were never materialized on the ground in Gaza. Phase 1 of the 20-point Gaza Peace Plan was supposed to immediately stop the fighting between Israel and Hamas, allow full admittance of humanitarian aid in the Gaza enclave, open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, enable the exchange of captives between the two sides, and set a limit for the Israeli withdrawal from the boundary of Gaza.

Phase 1: Broken Promises

Although the Israeli attacks in Gaza have decreased since the start of the ceasefire, the genocide still continues. The Zionist government continues to violate the ceasefire by launching unprovoked attacks in the Gaza enclave, violating the ceasefire at least 1193 times, resulting in the deaths of at least 451 Palestinians since October 10. According to a UNICEF report, “More than 100 children have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire of early October. That is roughly one girl or boy killed every day during a ceasefire.” It further states, “Since the ceasefire, UNICEF has recorded reports of at least 60 boys and 40 girls killed in the Gaza Strip. The 100 figure only reflects incidents where sufficient details have been available to record, so the actual number of Palestinian children killed is expected to be higher. Hundreds of children have been wounded.”

Hamas has released all the living and dead captives except one. However, reports suggest that Israel has not released all the prisoners as stipulated in the ceasefire agreement. It still holds numerous children, women, and doctors. Moreover, reports suggest that the Israeli government continues to block much of the essential humanitarian aid in Gaza, only allowing around 43 percent of the total aid trucks. The Zionist government does not allow the passage of the trucks containing meat, dairy products, and vegetables, which are necessary for maintaining a balanced diet. It only allows trucks containing soft drinks, chocolates, snacks, and crisps into the Gaza enclave. In addition, the Israeli government has banned more than three dozen charity organizations from working in Gaza, further worsening the dire conditions of the Gazans. Furthermore, the key lifeline for the entry of aid, medical evacuation, and travel, the Rafah crossing, also remains closed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

Phase 2: Political Theatre or Real Solution

Phase 2 of the Gaza Peace Plan aims to shift the focus to establishing a Palestinian technocrats’ panel to supervise and lead post-war Gaza, as well as long-term governance in the enclave. Steve Witkoff, Special Envoy of the US President Donald Trump, stated the Phase 2 “establishes a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration in Gaza” and would initiate “the full demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza, primarily the disarmament of all unauthorized personnel.” However, without the success of Phase 1 of the 20-point Peace Plan, the announcement of Phase 2 seems nothing more than a political theatrics to enhance President Trump’s international stature.

Controversial Appointments Undermine Trust and Peace

The Trump administration’s announcement of the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, responsible for the death of thousands of Muslims in the Middle East, along with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner – a staunch Zionist, as one of the founding executive members of the so-called Board of Peace, which is supposed to overview the implementation of the so-called Gaza Peace Plan, also reflects the nonchalance of the US government to end the Israeli genocide in Gaza. The United States has appointed US Major General Jasper Jeffers as Commander of the International Stabilization Force (ISF) for the Gaza Enclave. According to the White House, Jeffers would lead the ISF in a wide range of areas, including “comprehensive demilitarization.”

However, this “comprehensive demilitarization” is limited to de-weaponizing Hamas. The United States has been a key supporter of Israeli war crimes in Gaza. It has also been the prime supporter of Israel’s demand to demilitarize Hamas, a demand unacceptable to the Palestinian group. The appointment of Major General Jasper Jeffers would make the ISF more controversial. The US government needs to address the concerns of all the stakeholders effectively to successfully implement the 20-point Gaza Peace Plan. Moreover, appointing people with controversial backgrounds like Tony Blair and Jared Kushner would only lead to a trust deficit, further complicating the peace process in Gaza.

Аbbas Hashemite is a political observer and research analyst for regional and global geopolitical issues. He is currently working as an independent researcher and journalist

January 22, 2026 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Hamas: Netanyahu’s inclusion in ‘peace council’ threatens justice

Al Mayadeen | January 22, 2026

The Hamas Resistance movement has condemned the inclusion of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the so-called “Peace Council” for Gaza, calling it a dangerous sign that undermines justice and accountability.

In an official statement issued Thursday, Hamas said, “We strongly condemn the inclusion of war criminal Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, in the Peace Council for Gaza.”

The movement stated that Netanyahu’s participation contradicts the very principles such a council should represent. It warned that “the war criminal Netanyahu continues to obstruct a ceasefire agreement in Gaza and carries out the most heinous violations by targeting unarmed civilians.”

Hamas stressed that “the first step toward stability lies in ending the occupation’s violations and holding all those responsible for genocide and starvation accountable.”

The statement came after US President Donald Trump and several international leaders signed a decree on Thursday establishing the “Peace Council” concerning the Gaza Strip. The signing took place during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Netanyahu confirmed his participation on Wednesday, saying: “I will join the Peace Council in response to President Trump’s invitation.”

Others who joined the so-called “Peace Council” include Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and others, bringing the total number of those who accepted Trump’s invitation up to 25.

January 22, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Iran: The Eurasian Lock

Iran’s geography makes it a strategic hinge – one that anchors Russia’s southern depth and gives China an escape from US maritime containment

By Abbas al-Zein | The Cradle | January 22, 2026

In the corridors of US strategic decision-making, Iran is no longer treated as a discrete regional file. Dealing with Tehran has become inseparable from great-power competition itself. Coordination between Iran, Russia, and China has moved beyond situational alignment, coalescing into what western analysts increasingly describe as a form of “structural synergy” that undermines Washington’s ability to isolate its rivals.

This assessment overlaps with conclusions reached by the Carnegie Endowment in its report on America’s Future Threats, which identifies Iran as a “central node” in the Eurasian landmass – one that prevents Russia’s geographical isolation while securing China’s energy needs beyond the reach of US naval control.

Any serious destabilization of the Islamic Republic would not remain confined within its borders. It would translate into a dual strategic blockade targeting both China and Russia: reviving security chaos across Eurasia’s interior while striking at the financial and energy platforms that emerging powers increasingly rely on to loosen unipolar dominance.

Geography as strategic depth

For Moscow, Iran’s importance begins with geography. It offers Russia a vital geopolitical opening beyond its immediate borders. According to studies by the Valdai Club, Iran’s significance lies not in formal alliance politics but in its function as the sole land bridge connecting the Eurasian heartland to the Indian Ocean via the International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC).

This route provides Russia with insulation from NATO’s maritime pressure in the Baltic and Mediterranean, effectively converting Iranian territory into strategic depth protecting Russia’s southern flank.

This geographic interdependence has produced a shared political interest that goes beyond tactical coordination. The stability of the Iranian state acts as a safeguard against the Caucasus and Central Asia drifting toward the kind of fragmentation that preceded the Ukraine war. Research by the Russian Council for International Affairs (RIAC) frames Iranian geography as a cornerstone of the “Greater Eurasia” concept, central to Moscow’s effort to dilute western hegemony across the continent.

For Beijing, Iran plays a comparable role within a different strategic equation. As US naval pressure tightens across the Pacific, China’s westward extension through Iran has become increasingly difficult to replace. Research by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) identifies Iran as one of the most critical geographic nodes in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), providing Beijing with a land-based corridor into West Asia that bypasses US-controlled maritime choke points – from the Taiwan Strait to the Mediterranean approaches.

Iran’s intermediate position between the Eurasian interior and open seas has therefore imposed a durable entanglement between Tehran, Moscow, and Beijing. In this configuration, political alignment is driven less by ideology than by physiogeographic necessity.

Any attempt to destabilize the Iranian plateau would likely trigger a cascading shock across Eurasia’s interior, escalating a regional confrontation into a systemic blockade aimed at arresting the rise of rival power centers.

Buffer state and security firewall

Beyond logistics, Iran functions as a stabilizing buffer within East Eurasia’s security architecture. One research report by RAND on “Extending Russia” speaks of adversary exhaustion strategies that emphasize the use of peripheral instability to drain rival powers. From this perspective, Iran represents a critical firewall.

Instability inside Iran would mechanically undermine security coordination across Russia’s southern periphery, particularly in the Caucasus and Central Asia. RIAC assessments warn that such a breakdown would open pathways for extremist networks, transcontinental smuggling, and militant spillover – threats Moscow has repeatedly classified as existential.

For China, the concern lies in contagion. Iran’s stability limits the transmission of unrest through Central Asia’s mountain corridors, where Tehran functions as an integral security partner within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). This role provides Beijing with a degree of security insulation, allowing it to pursue global ambitions without being drawn into attritional border conflicts.

Energy and financial sovereignty

Economically, Iran’s role extends beyond conventional trade logic. Its partnerships with Russia and China increasingly form part of an alternative financial and energy architecture designed to blunt western leverage.

From Beijing’s perspective, Iranian oil has become a form of strategic insulation. Data indicates that China purchases roughly 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of Iranian crude – around 13.4 percent of its seaborne oil imports – with close to 80 percent of Iran’s exports flowing eastward. Increasing settlement through non-dollar mechanisms, including the digital yuan, has further reduced vulnerability to US pressure, particularly at choke points such as the Strait of Malacca.

Reports from the Electricity Hub confirm that China imported more than 57 million tons of Iranian – or suspected Iranian – oil in 2025, often routed via intermediaries such as Malaysia. The figures underscore the diminishing effectiveness of sanctions when confronted with geoeconomic necessity.

Russia’s calculus follows a different path to the same outcome. Cooperation with Iran has emerged as one of Moscow’s most important routes around SWIFT-based isolation. Government of the Russian Federation data shows bilateral trade rising by 35 percent following the Eurasian Economic Union free trade agreement implemented in May 2025.

A central shift has been monetary. In January 2025, the Central Bank of Iran announced full connectivity between Russia’s MIR and Iran’s Shetab payment systems, creating a protected financial corridor. According to Iranian officials, Iran and Russia aim to expand bilateral trade to $10 billion over the next decade, while Iran’s exports to Russia are expected to rise to about $1.4 billion by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2026).

Tehran has increasingly functioned as a re-export hub for Russian technologies and goods, frustrating efforts to economically isolate Moscow.

Washington’s strategy of separation

Against this backdrop, US strategy has evolved. Rather than relying solely on pressure or open confrontation, Washington has gravitated toward what western policy circles describe as a “strategy of separation.” This is an attempt to loosen the interdependence binding Tehran, Moscow, and Beijing by offering alternative pathways rather than confronting the bloc directly.

On the Chinese front, energy has emerged as the primary point of leverage. As the world’s largest oil importer, Beijing remains sensitive to supply stability and pricing. US moves in Latin America – particularly regarding Venezuela – are widely interpreted as efforts to reintegrate large oil reserves into global markets under western regulatory frameworks, potentially diluting Iran’s role in China’s energy security calculus.

In parallel, Washington has expanded its naval and coalition presence across key trade corridors stretching from the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific. This posture is framed not only as deterrence but as a persistent reminder that maritime supply security remains tied to US-led power balances.

On the Russian front, Ukraine occupies a central role. While sustained military and economic pressure aims to drain Moscow’s capacity, intermittent diplomatic signals suggest interest in compartmentalized understandings over European security. The underlying wager is that Russia’s core interests might be partially accommodated in Europe, reducing the long-term value of its partnership with Iran.

US engagement has also intensified across Central Asia and the Caucasus – regions that constitute strategic depth for Russia and critical corridors for China’s BRI. From Moscow and Beijing’s view, expanded security and investment ties in these areas represent an effort to geographically encircle Iran and weaken its role as Eurasia’s connective knot.

Why the bet fails

Despite the breadth of these efforts, the strategy of separation runs up against entrenched distrust in both Moscow and Beijing. For the two powers, the issue is not the scale of incentives on offer but the structure of the international system itself – and the accumulated experience of sanctions, coercion, and volatile western commitments.

From Russia’s vantage point, any trade-off between Iran and Ukraine constitutes a strategic trap. Iran anchors Russia’s southern access to the Indian Ocean; its collapse would expose the Caucasus–Central Asia arc to chronic instability. Gains in Eastern Europe would offer little compensation for a structurally weakened southern flank.

China’s reasoning is similarly grounded. Alternative energy suppliers remain embedded within supply chains that Washington can influence or disrupt. Iranian oil, by contrast, offers a higher degree of geographic and political autonomy. Its value lies less in price than in resilience.

The last barrier

At its core, the contest over Iran pits two logics against one another. One assumes geopolitical networks can be dismantled through incentives and selective realignment. The other recognizes that geography, accumulated experience, and the erosion of trust render such guarantees fragile in a world moving steadily toward multipolarity.

Iran’s collapse or prolonged internal destabilization would not merely reorder energy markets or regional alignments. It would reopen West Asia as a zone of near-exclusive US influence, completing a strategic arc across Western Eurasia. For more than a century, the region has served as a central theater of global power competition – from imperial rivalries to the Cold War and into the present transition toward multipolarity.

Therefore, Iran becomes more than a pivotal state. Much as Venezuela once represented the outer limit of resistance to US power in the Western Hemisphere, Iran now stands as the final geopolitical barrier to the consolidation of American hegemony across the heart of Eurasia.

Its cohesion serves not only its own national interest but also the broader objective shared by Moscow and Beijing: constraining unilateral dominance and preserving strategic autonomy in their immediate neighborhoods.

January 22, 2026 Posted by | Economics, Militarism | , , , | Leave a comment

European leaders’ shift in their Davos addresses exposes Europe’s strategic anxiety

Global Times | January 21, 2026

The World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting recently kicked off in the Swiss resort city of Davos. This year’s forum took place amid rare transatlantic tensions triggered by the US intention to acquire Greenland. The focus of European leaders’ speeches pivoted noticeably from global economic issues to geopolitics, reflecting Europe’s deepening strategic anxiety amid structural contradictions with the US.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the EU should not bend to “the law of the strongest,” while Belgium’s Prime Minister Bart De Wever said the bloc was “at a crossroads” where it must decide on how to get out of a “very bad position” after trying to appease Trump. Even European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen highlighted the “geopolitical shocks” and “a dangerous downward spiral” brought by the US.

“The forum sends a clear political signal of Europe’s growing strategic awakening,” Zhao Junjie, a senior research fellow at the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The maximum pressure exerted by the US on the Greenland issue has shaken the long-standing value consensus between Europe and the US. Its unilateral and bullying actions have triggered strong fear and anxiety across Europe, which is a key reason for the heightened emotions and intense reactions toward the US among European representatives at this year’s forum.

The statements made by European leaders at the forum appear to have demonstrated Europe’s resolve to stand firm to the world. Yet it remains to be seen whether such firm commitments can be translated into practical, unified, and effective actions. As senior bankers and corporate executives at Davos noted, they believe the current responses of European leaders to the US are more emotional than pragmatic. Moreover, due to long-standing structural constraints – its deep entanglement with the US in security, energy, and economic affairs – Europe’s response is weak and constrained. Zhao further noted that Europe still lacks systematic measures to effectively counter American unilateralism, with current efforts largely limited to soft multilateral mechanisms.

Europe’s response to US unilateral pressures has been sluggish and lacking in internal coordination. The EU countries have not reached a consensus on the activation of Anti-Coercion Instrument. Meanwhile, Europe continues to grapple with “double standards” in its multilateral engagements. Despite the leaders’ calls for trade diversification, restrictive market-access policies toward certain foreign products have fueled ongoing trade tensions. This contradiction is illustrated by Macron’s appeal for Chinese investment in key sectors, even as the EU moves to phase out components and equipment from tech suppliers such as Huawei in some sectors – a policy that inevitably raises questions about Europe’s consistency and sincerity in pursuing cooperative partnerships.

Canada has already taken action. Prime Minister Mark Carney stated that middle powers are not “powerless” facing “a rupture in the world order.” He called for “honesty about the world as it is” and for building “something bigger, better, stronger, and more just.” Recently, Canada established strategic partnerships with China and Qatar to promote the diversification of its foreign relations. Such strategic sobriety may offer some inspiration for Europe.

Ursula von der Leyen declared in her special address that “Europe will always choose the world, and the world is ready to choose Europe.” Yet Europe must now answer a more pressing question: what path will it choose for itself in the changing global order?

The statements at Davos have sent a clear political signal of Europe’s awakening. Moving forward, Europe must consolidate its strength through unity, steer its own course with greater autonomy, and expand its strategic space through diversification. Confronted with external pressures, only by reinforcing internal solidarity, advancing pragmatic actions, and broadening multilateral cooperation can Europe truly safeguard its own interests and uphold the international multilateral order. Only in this way can Europe genuinely protect its interests amid profound changes. History does not wait for the hesitant – it is time for Europe to act.

January 22, 2026 Posted by | Economics | , , , , | Leave a comment

Why Trump’s ‘Board Of Peace’ Is Destined To Crash And Burn

By Robert Inlakesh –  The Palestine Chronicle – January 21, 2026

The recent announcement of US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” (BoP) has stirred intense debate over what Phase 2 of the Gaza Ceasefire will look like. In reality, figuring this out is rather simple: it is a mission destined to crash and burn, similar to how the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) and the Floating Aid Pier did.

Proponents of the Trump administration’s BoP have little to show other than fancy rhetoric, churned out unironically, due to their lack of any basic understanding of Gaza’s predicament.

The Board Of Zionist Failure

As of the White House press briefing issued on January 16, the so-called Board of Peace was initiated with seven appointed members to its “Executive Board.” None of them is Palestinian, let alone from Gaza, and none possesses even the slightest credibility in dealing with such a sensitive and arduous task.

They include Trump administration officials Steve Witkoff, Marco Rubio, Robert Gabriel, and the demonstrably incompetent son-in-law of the US President, Jared Kushner. Then there is former British Prime Minister—the butcher of Baghdad himself—Tony Blair. That leaves pro-Israel billionaire Marc Rowan and World Bank Group President Ajay Banga.

However, the individual granted the most consequential role, the High Representative for Gaza, is none other than Nickolay Mladenov. While serving as a United Nations envoy to the Middle East, he developed a relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He also earned the favour of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and was awarded the ‘Grand Star of the Order of Jerusalem’ by its President, Mahmoud Abbas.

Mladenov is presented as a man who maintains relations with all sides, yet those citing his ties to the PA as evidence of this are doing so disingenuously. Setting aside questions of the PA’s legitimacy, it has not ruled Gaza since 2006. As such, his relationship is not with the governing authorities of the besieged territory.

In addition, Mladenov left his UN post to become director-general of the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi. He not only resides in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) but also serves as a Segal Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP).

His affiliation with WINEP should raise major red flags. The institute is often referred to as the think-tank wing of the Israel Lobby in Washington and, according to the Quincy Institute’s ‘Think Tank Funding Tracker,’ is funded by dark money. Mladenov is also a passionate supporter of the Trump administration’s so-called “Abraham Accords,” an initiative aimed at pushing Arab states to abandon the demand for a Palestinian state before normalizing relations with Tel Aviv.

While there is much more to be said about the so-called BoP, it suffices to note that it is a pro-Israel endeavour—one that reportedly demands a $1 billion sign-up fee for participating nations, as though it were a subscription service, a kind of Netflix for states.

The mere existence of the BoP constitutes a clear violation of international law and even contradicts the US’s own newly adopted National Security Strategy doctrine. None of this would have been possible, however, without the utter cowardice of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) members back in November.

UNSC Resolution 2803 authorized this colonial throwback board—an unelected, illegitimate authority imposed upon Gaza—while effectively rewarding Israel for committing genocide. Every state that voted in favor is complicit, with no exceptions. The resolution erased decades of UNSC and UN General Assembly resolutions, undermined the Geneva Conventions, and authorized a plan that violates rulings issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN’s own legal body.

Why It Will Fail

As for what the BoP is actually meant to do, meaningful analysis is nearly impossible at this stage. It has no clear vision—only a pro-Israeli orientation. The BoP is a cash grab, trafficking in vague concepts such as “peace,” “accountability,” and “reconstruction,” while offering no substance. Its continued existence rests largely on the unwillingness of states to challenge it, out of fear of the occupant of the White House.

What is clear is that this project has no viable options. Already, the Israeli government has begun objecting to it, as members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet openly call for the permanent occupation of the Gaza Strip to facilitate illegal settlement construction. Netanyahu himself is demanding the return of the body of Israel’s last captive and the disarmament of Hamas—both demands that remain unresolved.

Under only one condition are Israeli leaders prepared to consider extending the ceasefire into Phase 2: the violent overthrow of Hamas through “disarmament.” In a Monday address to the Knesset, Netanyahu echoed Trump’s threat—“we do it the easy way or the hard way”—in reference to demilitarisation.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Israel has killed nearly 500 Palestinians since the so-called ceasefire began. It has also refused to halt attacks on civilian infrastructure and violated the “Yellow Line” meant to separate the 53 percent of Gaza under occupation, instead seizing roughly 60 percent of the territory.

These ceasefire violations—including the restriction of agreed-upon aid flows—have been monitored by the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC), led by the United States and involving more than 20 national militaries.

The CMCC does not engage in combat; it merely monitors violations—a mission it has clearly failed. It has made little to no tangible difference, aside from rendering the US military directly complicit in facilitating Israeli war crimes.

For the BoP to coordinate an “International Stabilization Force” (ISF) tasked with disarming Hamas, it would require not tens of thousands of troops, but hundreds of thousands. Alternatively, as suggested by Israeli and American officials and private military contractor UG Solutions, private mercenary forces could be deployed to compensate for an incoherent and vastly outnumbered ISF.

Compounding this is the existence of five Israeli-created ISIS-linked militias operating in Gaza, reportedly backed by the UAE, which may be used as cannon fodder in such a conflict.

Israeli officials themselves previously estimated that occupying Gaza City alone would require approximately 200,000 soldiers and could take up to a decade, simply to replicate a West Bank-style occupation. How, then, are tens of thousands expected to succeed where Israel could not?

If the ISF, under the direction of the BoP’s Zionist loyalists, truly wages war on Hamas, it would likely collapse—and in doing so, confirm that the so-called international community has chosen to resume Israel’s genocidal campaign. The proposition borders on madness.

Either Trump’s “peace plan” will be subordinated entirely to Israeli dictates, or it will be blocked altogether—leaving regime change in Gaza and foreign occupation as its core objectives. Phase 2 was supposed to begin months ago, yet it remains stalled because no one is willing to confront the current ultra-Zionist American administration.

On October 8, even before the ceasefire was announced, I wrote in The Palestine Chronicle that what lay ahead was a prolonged limbo between Phases 1 and 2. I warned it would amount to little more than a glorified pause—one Israel would violate whenever it suited its interests. Thus far, that prediction has proven accurate.

A BoP may well be assembled, and an ISF may even be deployed, but it will neither deliver sustainability nor realize the fantastical visions being proposed. Eventually, something will break—and this prolonged stalling, misleadingly labelled a “ceasefire,” is likely to backfire catastrophically.

Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine.

January 21, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | Leave a comment

‘Board of Peace’ resembles a club that turns the world into the ‘law of the jungle’

By Li Zixin | Global Times | January 21, 2026

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to impose 200 percent tariffs on French wines and champagne after French President Emmanuel Macron was reported to be unwilling to join his “Board of Peace” on Gaza, according to media reports.

The so-called Board of Peace is part of a “20-point peace plan” proposed by the US to end the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip. According to the draft charter of this board, it will be chaired by Trump. Membership would be by invitation from the chairman, who would hold key authority over terms, renewals and removals. What shocked the international community even more was that the US plan openly priced the board’s “permanent seats” at $1 billion each. This act of “privatizing” international affairs and “commodifying” regional peace not only disregards the will of the Palestinian people but also poses a huge challenge to the existing international governance system and norms of conduct.

The current Israel-Palestine conflict has lasted nearly 30 months, and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to worsen. The White House’s push to form a “Board of Peace” is primarily aimed at demonstrating US influence over the situation in Gaza. However, this institution, which should be responsible for peace in Gaza, is a typical product of “transactional diplomacy.” The nomination list is filled with US politicians and their cronies, but conspicuously absent is the most critical stakeholder – the Palestinians. This “absence” has drawn widespread criticism from the international community, with some even suggesting it reveals the institution’s “colonial” nature – attempting to privately outline Gaza’s future without the consent of the Palestinian people.

Even more shocking is the White House’s explicit offer of a “permanent seat” for $1 billion. This move reduces the solemn cause of international peace to a game of money. Gaza’s future should not be a commodity to be bought; under the influence of capital and hegemonic will, it will find it difficult to achieve true peace.

Judging from the proposed charter of the “Board of Peace,” this mechanism is unlikely to resolve the current crisis and may even poison the political landscape of the Middle East. First, it has not prioritized the imminent humanitarian crisis in Gaza, instead focusing more on the capital operations of postwar reconstruction.

Second, this board seriously hinders a comprehensive and just solution to the Palestine-Israel issue. The US-led Gaza peace plan not only eliminates the political role of the Palestinian National Authority in Gaza but also establishes a so-called Board of Peace controlled by external forces above the Palestinian technocratic committee. In essence, this replaces sovereign governance with external intervention, undermining the political foundation of the “two-state solution.” The US thereby deprives Palestinians of their fundamental right as a state to handle their own affairs, effectively further dividing the Gaza Strip from the West Bank and making a just and lasting peace even more unattainable.

Third, this move has severely impacted the global governance system. The current Gaza crisis is a brutal illustration of the disorderly state where “might makes right.” If peace seats can be bought and major powers can arbitrarily establish their own systems outside the existing international order, the fairness of the postwar international order will be undermined. This “club governance” model reduces international law to a private contract among major powers, forcing the world back into the law of the jungle.

To truly resolve the Israel-Palestine issue, we must return to the international order of fairness and justice. Any arrangements regarding the postwar governance of Gaza must be discussed within the framework of the UN and must fully respect the fundamental principle of “Palestinians governing Palestine.” Genuine peace should be built on the basis of the “two-state solution” and the restoration of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, not on a “small group” privately established by a hegemonic power. The international community should be wary of the dangerous tendency to place geopolitical games above international law and ensure that the reconstruction of Gaza is the reconstruction of justice, not an expansion of hegemony.

The author is a research fellow with the China Institute of International Studies. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

January 21, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | Leave a comment

Introducing Mossad Farsi, the Motto and the Methods

By Ilana Mercer • Unz Review • January 21, 2026

I’ll stifle the impulse not to say the obvious, and say it: An Israeli-American regime-change operation is underway in Iran.

It’s “right out of the US-Israel playbook” for such operations, notes Professor John Merisheimer, a scrupulous scholar of “great-power politics,” or, more precisely, of naked imperial power.

First, the US “wrecked the country’s economy through crippling sanctions, making the populace profoundly unhappy, poor, desperate, hungry.” Next, cheek-by-jowl with Israel, massive protests were fomented, confirmation for which came in a December 29, Jerusalem Post article, the headline to which read as follows:

“Mossad spurs Iran protests, say agents with [the] demonstrators, in [a] Farsi message: As protests grow across Iran, the Mossad posted an unusual Farsi message urging demonstrators to act, saying it is with them in the streets, amid rising economic pressure and public unrest.”

To Israel, the United States of America offers service and subservience.

Thus, comments from Trump on Truth Social and Mike Pompeo, more openly, backed the fact of an orchestrated, malevolent intervention, in what were initially organic, peaceful protests that stemmed from ruthless economic warfare (American) against the Islamic Republic.

Duly, on January 2, 2026, Pompeo, former U.S. Secretary of state and CIA director, wrote: “Happy New Year to every Iranian in the streets. Also, to every Mossad agent walking beside them…”

As reported by the Times of Israel, on January 16, “Channel 14, seen as close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” initially said that “‘foreign actors’ are arming the protesters in Iran with live firearms, which is the reason for the hundreds of regime personnel killed.” A little later, a typically oleaginous Israeli source quipped: “Everyone is free to guess who is behind it.”

We’ve sensed as much. The Iranian January 2026 protesters are acting out-of-character. More like Israelis than ordinary Iranians. These protesters appear thoroughly Israelized—it is certainly unusual historically for the generally demure, respectful Iranians to burn down and desecrate their own holy sites; acts that conform, however, to the rules and customs of Israeli “transnational terrorism.”

Historically, Iranians in protest have targeted government symbols, but not national and religious symbols.

And, Lo: These Iranian protesters had enjoyed access to 40,000 StarLink terminals, a news tidbit confirmed by the Times of Israel and Fox News, in bursts of good cheer and cheerleading. The “live” firearms provided were in keeping with Israel’s terror-state tactics. Recall that, in June of 2025, in connivance with the CIA, Mossad, MI5 and Trump—Israelis had smuggled needed materiel into Iran for their war of aggression. Trump had done his part in the subterfuge by pursuing “diplomacy-as-deception” with his trusting Iranian interlocutors, thus distracting and deceiving them.

The third stage in the “US-Israel Axis’” “four-part regime change playbook,” avers Mearsheimer, is the disinformation campaign.

Before their respective, well-coordinated air forces and armies alight on their Iranian victims in targeted attacks and assassinations—the “transnational terrorists” of the “US-Israel Axis” have a trifling task: Convince the most-propagandized minds in the world, Westerners, that this grotesque burlesque of a regime-change farce is a naturally occurring thing.

In other words, that America’s color-coded, plant-based “democratic” revolutions, you know the kind—“Purple” in Iraq, “Blue” in Kuwait, “Cotton” in Uzbekistan, “Grape” in Moldova, “Orange” in the Ukraine, “Rose” in Georgia, “Tulip” in Kyrgyzstan, “Cedar” in Lebanon, “Jasmine” in Tunisia, “Green” in Iran, still un-christened in Russia and Syria—these are but natural uprisings, led by noble patriots, who just happen, all-too frequently, to be aligned with and sponsored by Foreign Policy Inc., the clubby DC foreign-policy establishment and its Israeli offshoots and operatives.

Mearsheimer appears to imply that the stages of regime change are consecutive, or sequential. I would argue that, as in all formulaic stage theories—the stages of regime change overlap, run into each other, reoccur and repeat. To wit, Iran has and will continue to endure this devilry for decades.

Over and above regime change, Israel, by Mearsheimer’s careful estimation, has a “deep-seated interest” in “wrecking Iran,” in breaking the Islamic Republic apart, and fracturing the surrounding nations.

“At bottom,” I posited during the 12-day war on Iran, “If Israel wanted to enjoy its neighborhood; it would not perennially reduce it to a primordial, pre-civilization stage, as in Gaza, by wiping out knowledge, experience, strength; smarts, beauty and goodness. … These Israeli atavists—who during the 2025 offensive in Iran murdered nearly 900 Palestinians in Gaza—don’t want educated, erudite neighbors; equals with whom to make magic in the region; they want subjects they can sanction and slaughter into submission.”(“IRAN: Everything You Need To Know But Were Too Afraid Of The Israel Lobby To Ask,” July 1, 2025.”)

I should revise that: According to the twinned belief-systems of Jewish supremacy and American exceptionalism; all ‘good,’ ‘happy’ human beings are either those who are like Americans or like Israelis, or en route to becoming clones of the one or the other.

Those involved in these foreign-policy drives honestly believe that to be American or Israeli is the existential Gold Standard. Lowly humanity is a pilgrim en route to the Promised Land, whether they know it or not —sometimes by hook or crook. Ultimately, the lives of all the Others being roused to revolt are just not worth much until they “arrive.”

As to their deep involvement in inciting regime-change riots in Iran: News tidbits to that effect have come to us directly via the Israelis themselves.

By now you know that Israel is “amoral,” it acts outside the laws of both man and God. By now you know that bursts of pride accompany Israeli barbarity. As is often the case, Israelis and their media openly report their crimes. And they are especially proud to be inciting regime-change in Iran. On the ground.

Take the X account titled “Mossad Farsi.” So nauseatingly audacious in content is it, that I doubted its authenticity.

In sickeningly sugared tweets, “Official Mossad in Farsi” and its bots (the programmed, online Artificial Intelligence responders or Israel’s paid lickspittles) profess the love Israelis have for the largely pro-Palestinian Iranians.

These are the same Israelis, still mid-murder in Gaza and the West bank, who were posting and celebrating imagery of murdered Palestinians with the flesh hanging on their bones in ribbons. That amoral Israel is now “loving on” the Iranians, a people who have generally resisted for Palestine.

Filled with love, “Mossad Farsi” has been loud and proud about its role in attempting to break the Islamic Republic. Here is the Mossad Farsi tweet that got world attention. Dated December 29, it reads as follows: “Let’s come out to the streets together. The time has come. We are with you. Not just from afar and verbally, we are with you in the field as well.”

Speaking in unison, Israeli media—Channel 14, i24, Israel Hayom, and others, no doubt—confirmed the authenticity and impetus of this account. In identically scripted messages, all outlets announced that a “Mossad X account in Farsi urges Iranians to protest as unrest sweeps the country.”

The criminal Svengali Bibi tips the nose toward Iran (allegedly), in a December 29 meeting at Mar-a-Lago, and Trump runs. “Fetch,” says Netanyahu to a pack of dreadful American curs, and they fetch. (Apologies, again, to animals for using them as the source of metaphor for things stupid and evil. It’s a regrettable feature of the English language.)

What might I add to the information provided by Mearsheimer (and reported by Max Blumenthal) in hashing out the finer points of the Israeli scheme? I can provide a translation from the Hebrew of the motto embedded by Mossad Farsi in its X account’s graphic. It reads as follows:

“Without connivance [as in scheming], a nation will fall”:

באין תחבולות יפול עם

Mossad Farsi’s motto is The Message. Israel’s message.

January 21, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

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