Komunitas
fedia.io
Oh man, this is a doozy. You aren’t wrong but I’ve got to get some sleep. To explain this is A LOT. The thing is the Leahy Law doesn’t put the power directly in the President’s hands. It grants the vetting process to the Secretary of State. Which is a member of the cabinet of the President. Which I don’t know how familiar you are with how the Executive Office works or not. But Secretary of State Antony Blinken is the one who wields the power to deny Israel’s aid. There’s Executive Orders (EO) that the President can give but there’s the whole “what if” Blinken quits given an EO and then we have to get the Senate involved which is currently 50-50 on Republicans and Democrats. Which that turns it even more complex and Senators can delay confirmation until after the election or if they’re really bitter, until next year. Which means that everything that requires a Secretary of State would get put on pause. I get that everyone thinks the President gets to have the final say, but the President orders people around on EOs, which the various Secretaries can just quit if they don’t want to follow them, and then that kicks everything to the Senate. That’s kind of a built in protection in our system of Government to prevent a President becoming a dictator. If a President wants XYZ done and the Secretary thinks that’s bad, they quit and the Senate becomes involved potentially delaying the President forever. There’s way more background on why Blinken has only stopped two aids and also because of classification reasons, not every stopping of aid can be published, unless the President does so since the President has unilateral authority on classification markings (except for anything related to the name of spies and nuclear bomb designs, that is one of the few things that requires both the President and Congress to sign off on, there’s a few other exceptions as well but I won’t go into them). But anyways, Blinken is the one who can stop aid. The President could order him, but he could also quit, which means the Senate would get involved, and I can explain why all of that would be messy if you need me to. why can’t he veto the military aid The President only has veto power on bills that have passed both the House and the Senate. Once something becomes law, the President “has” to carry it out. There’s a ton of background on “Executive Discretion” and any time the President wants to exercise discretion, Congress can sue, which then brings the matter into the other branch, the Judicial. Plenty of States that would sign on, to a Congressional suit (which that’s a requirement for Congress to sue the President, at least one State has to join in). So Biden could use Discretion to delay funding, and he’s done that quite a few times, but he can’t just outright NOT pay when the law requires him to do so. That discretion comes from a kind of EO called a “Reviewing Executive Order” and it requires a department to “review” ((insert whatever the topic is)). That’s a delay, but it isn’t a halt. The President has to follow the law as well. So if we have a law that says, “we provide $xxx to Israel’s Iron Dome”, we have to send that money to them at some point. A lot of the funds that Israel is getting, is funding they secured before the Gaza invasion. There’s been recent upping of that funding that Congress has passed, but that’s been on things called Continuing Resolutions (CR). Republicans in the House (who are the ones who control what the US Budget is) have been using CRs to get choice things enacted. That’s because Republicans in the House have passed rules on how a budget may be formed in the House that are impossible to comply with (which that’s a whole long story). So if Democrats in the House refuse to accept the CRs the Republicans offer, the Government shuts down. Anyways, that’s been a lot already. If you need me to clear anything up, let me know. But Harris likely wouldn’t have Blinken as Secretary of State, which would fix A WHOLE LOT. But I don’t know, because if the election isn’t kind to Democrats in the Senate and Republicans have a majority in the Senate, they could block Harris’ Sec. of State unless they specifically pledged to support Israel. Now they could absolutely lie about that, but then Congress could also impeach them, but that would cut off aid to Israel for some time as that’s not an easy process to impeach a secretary of state.
Komunitas
lemmygrad.ml
Biologist here. If we were meant to be selfish and lazy and arrogant and greedy, then we wouldn’t be forming tribes and packs and groups and villages and towns and cities and governments and militaries and social groups and so on and so on. We wouldn’t have survived. We would have been living solitary lives like male lions. Instead, most people naively look at a bacterium eating until it bursts, or a cat hissing at another cat for no apparent reason, or a praying mantis eating another praying mantis that it just copulated with, and we think “oh that’s exactly how nature is meant to work, all around, no exceptions”. In truth, when you look at most vertebrate animals, we all exhibit varying degrees of cooperativeness, all powered by empathy and fear of social pressure (for when empathy fails). Most of all vertebrates, this is exhibited by mammals. And most of all mammals, you see it in primates. And most of all primates (by very few degrees in some cases by the way), you see it in humans. Humans specifically evolved to be cooperative. Our cooperative nature is what gave us an edge to survive until the beginning of history. You can find many examples and anthropological evidence, but the simplest one is how Homo sapiens (more cooperative and able to maintain bigger groups) managed to out-survive the Neanderthals (less cooperative and spread into much smaller groups). You can observe it in our physiology. Our brains have an extremely developed system of empathetic neurons. We feel the plight of others, and our natural instinct is to help them. This would be a pretty big disadvantage if the idea is that selfishness wins the day. You can see this in action very clearly in children of all ages: When one baby cries, all other babies in the room start crying too. If one is in danger, perhaps we are all in danger. Let’s cry together to save ourselves. When a child’s toy breaks, often another child will come along and offer them another toy (free of charge too). We don’t want to see others be sad, because that makes us sad. If you ask a child “Would you prefer that you get ice cream, but your brother doesn’t, or would you prefer that both of you get ice cream?” They’ll almost always answer “Both”. Even if we don’t stand to lose anything, we don’t want to make decisions that make others suffer unnecessarily. If a teacher asks a teenager to tell on another teenager about some minor transgression, they’ll almost always refuse, even if they don’t like the other person. Mutual support is ingrained in us. We don’t want to let down other members of our group, because group cohesion is more important than individual success. Even in the most selfish sense, we instinctively fear that the rest of the group will shun us for bringing harm to one of our own. You can also see it in adults even. Every time there’s a disaster in some far corner of the world, and the calls come for help, along with the videos and posts showing the desperation and fear, then total strangers suddenly rush to embrace the victims across the internet by volunteering, sending aid, messages of support, or even the mere act of checking up again to see how things turned out. What happens rather is that we have built a system that systematically dismantles our cooperative instincts in favour of individualism. This is one reason we all feel unhappy at such high rates. Every time we see a beggar on the street and turn the other way, every time we hear of someone else’s problems and we choose to ignore it, every time we come at a crossroads where we choose between our careers and the well-being of ourselves and others around us, every single time we go into battle against our nature and we kill a bit of ourselves. And then we convince ourselves that the mutilated and unrecognized carcass that our psyche has become, that that abomination is how we always were and how all humans are. It makes it just a bit more bearable to live with ourselves. Take away this system, and suddenly you can raise new generations that act perfectly well according to the human nature that brought us all the way to here. Again, this is easily observable. Travel in less developed countries away from the centers of capitalism, and see how people in a community behave to each other. Not just day-to-day politeness, but actually how their system is set up around cooperation and mutual aid. Upbringing is a key we constantly ignore when we discuss this “human nature”. For rich people, the effects of this psychic self-mutilation are even worse. The upper classes convince themselves that they are somehow better than everybody else. That they are almost an entirely different species. That those who toil under them don’t deserve anything better. That the rich are rich because they are the smartest, bestest, gentlest, humanest humans to be around. And then they raise their children to believe this shit from birth. And then they raise their children, and so on. The result is that one way or the other, the rich and powerful separate themselves from the rest of the group. They make their own group. And then they see how small their group is, and how big our group is, and they start getting paranoid on what we will do to them for abusing us. Actually they are not afraid because they are abusing us. They are afraid because they see us the way they see the rest of the world. They are selfish, greedy and moralless and so they think we are too. They think we are out to get them and steal their stuff, the same way they operate. Which gives them even more reason to abuse us, suppress us and lie to us about a variety of stuff like “it is our god-given right to amass this much wealth” or “it’s human nature”. And that is exactly when societies break down. Initially, Ancient Rome had a vast area around the city designated as public land. This land didn’t just belong to the state, it belonged to everyone. This was really good arable land too. So every family in Rome, be it patrician, plebeian or proletarian was given a certain lot from this land to farm and work as they see fit in order to support their family. Furthermore, another big portion of this land was kept owner-less and was tended by slaves (unfortunately) and paid labourers to produce food which was allotted to the entire population of the city. This land could actually produce enough food to feed about 200 000 people every year. Extremely big and extremely fertile land. And no family could own more than a tiny fraction of this land. So for around 500 years this set-up was maintained, until some patrician decided to run a scheme where they’d use the names of dead soldiers to allot plots of public land to their “miraculously alive” persons, and through them he would own the land. He then wanted to acquire even more land by using gangs of thugs to convince other families to sell rights of work on their lots to other fictitious personas he created. Pretty soon all the other patricians followed suit (for fear of missing out). About 50 years later (150 BC) most of this land was in the hands of the patricians and everybody knew it. Efforts to reverse this land theft were met with brutal repression (Michael Parenti covers this in his book on Julius Caesar if you are interested). We are talking actual death squads roaming free through the city and killing thousands within a few days. Eventually this is what led to the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire about 300 years later. It wasn’t the inherent greed of all Romans that did this (EDIT: Actually the vast majority of Romans, including some of the aristocrats were constantly banding together to fight this; you know… cooperating). It was rather the greed of a select few individuals, who had set up a system where they had all the power and all the means to act upon this greed. Your friend sounds like a very bad biologist to me. Probably a biochemist :P
Komunitas
news.abolish.capital
Yesterday, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told the Sunday Times that Pakistan serving as a mediator in the U.S.-Iran war is “one of the shining moments in our history.” “We are in seventh heaven and on cloud nine and it’s intoxicating,” the former Pakistani ambassador to the U.S. Masood Khan concurred. “I’ve had a long diplomatic career and I have never seen Pakistan on such a high pedestal.” “When I went to Washington as ambassador in 2022, it was an uphill task,” he continued. “Yet now Pakistan is playing the role the UN should have been—it’s a very delicate task and we are doing it well.” For some, Pakistan may have appeared as an unexpected mediator in the negotiations to end the Iran war. But the country, taken over by a military regime after the ouster of populist PM Imran Khan, has recently been making a major play on the world stage. Drop Site has been a lone voice in producing independent investigations on Pakistan—a country of over 200 million people with nuclear weapons and without freedom of the press. We’re able to do so because—as a reader-funded independent news outlet—we operate free from the influence of governments and corporate backers. This is essential to our mission: to report on what matters most, beholden only to the truth. In that spirit, we made a commitment to ensure that our journalism is free for everyone, not locked behind a paywall. But that means we rely on the voluntary support of our community of readers. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support our work today. Support Drop Site Today U.S. Vice President JD Vance shakes hands with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during their meeting on April 11, 2026 at Islamabad, Pakistan. Photo by Jacquelyn Martin - Pool/Getty Images. On the afternoon of Friday, April 24, as markets in the United States were closing for the weekend, the Trump administration saw some welcome news: Axios published a story indicating that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was headed to Islamabad, with the potential to restart the failed talks with the U.S. to end the war. If all went well, Araghchi would meet that Monday with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. “A trilateral meeting with the U.S. will be assessed after our meeting with Araghchi,” a source described as a “Pakistani official” told Axios’s Barak Ravid. At the same time, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media arm of Pakistan’s ruling military, sent out a private message on WhatsApp to reporters. The message, the ISPR told reporters, was “Attributable to Government Sources”—obscuring the military’s role—and informed reporters of Araghchi’s impending visit. “Following important discussions with the Pakistani mediation team, a second round of Islamabad peace talks between the United States and Iran is expected, government sources say,” the ISPR suggested. “A U.S. logistics and security team is already present in Islamabad to facilitate the negotiation process.” The claim flew around the world and stocks popped at the close, as reporters copied the ISPR message and pasted it on their Twitter accounts. Pakistani mediators basked in adulation from the Western press, which marveled at the Phoenix-like rise of the military-run government, now a central player on the world stage. Subscribe now And yet, surprising nobody who had been following the situation closely, the story quickly unraveled. As Drop Site reported in real time, Araghchi was not going to Islamabad to re-open talks and would most certainly not be meeting with Witkoff and Kushner. Trump called off their trip, saying the Iranians could phone them if they wanted. By Sunday, Ebrahim Rezaei, an Iranian national security spokesperson, had seen enough. “Pakistan is a good friend and neighbor of ours, but it is not a suitable intermediary for negotiations and lacks the necessary credibility for mediation,” Rezaei said on Twitter. “They always take Trump’s interests into account and do not say a word against the Americans’ wishes.” Listing a litany of instances where Pakistan had simply deferred to Trump and overlooked his violation of agreements, he added, “A mediator must be impartial, not always leaning to one side.” Pakistan has continued assisting the talks, including by lending an official plane to Araghchi for a short flight to Oman for a brief diplomatic tour last month. But the very mercenary nature of the regime, which allowed it to position itself so effectively as a tool for American interests, also diminishes its value in the role as peacemaker. At the same time, other parties, including Oman, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey have also begun to try their hands at shaping the diplomatic outcome of the war. How Pakistan got to this point is a story of steady American pressure applied in a variety of ways and a testament to the Pakistan military’s uncanny survival instincts. After engineering former prime minister Imran Khan’s removal in 2022, blatantly rigging a national election in 2024, and continuing to govern in the face of sustained public opposition, the generals have only tightened their hold at home and their standing in Washington. Leaked documents obtained by Drop Site News, as well as interviews with former civilian and military officials, the sequence of events that shaped the U.S.-Pakistan relationship over the past five years and brought Washington and Islamabad from mutual suspicion into a political embrace. This budding relationship, despite bearing hopes to reshape the region, may yet be brought down by the shaky foundation on which it was built. To hear the recent laudatory profiles of Pakistan tell it, Pakistan’s diplomatic position is a product of effective lobbying by the Pakistani government in D.C. But the true story has been much longer in the making. Burns in Islamabad In June 2021, CIA Director William J. Burns flew to Islamabad to meet with then-Prime Minister Imran Khan. He waited a full day to see Khan, according to reports from the time. But the meeting never happened. Khan’s office informed Burns by phone that the prime minister, citing protocol, would only take calls from his counterparts. His counterpart was President Joe Biden, who, since taking office that January, had declined repeated requests for a direct call. Biden’s refusal to meet Khan personally marked a stinging reversal from the previous administration. In July 2019, Khan had been invited for a brief meeting in the White House during the Trump administration that wound up lasting longer than 90 minutes. Trump and Khan enjoyed a warm relationship and had much in common: They were both celebrities in the ‘80s and ‘90s who became populist politicians around the same time. They met again in September 2019 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meetings and again in January 2020 in the White House. For the Biden administration, Khan was merely the Donald Trump of Pakistan. Burns had come to secure Pakistani territory for U.S. drone bases to use against targets in Afghanistan after the planned American withdrawal. He left with neither the bases nor an audience with the prime minister. If there was any confusion on the matter, Khan cleared it up later that month in an interview with Axios’s co-founder Jonathan Swan. “Absolutely not. There is no way we are going to allow any bases, any sort of action from Pakistani territory into Afghanistan. Absolutely not,” he said. Within weeks, Kabul fell to the Taliban, and the U.S. evacuation descended into chaos that damaged the Biden administration’s standing at home and abroad. Donald Trump and Imran Khan meet in the Oval Office at the White House on July 22, 2019 in Washington, DC. Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images. In the months prior, Khan’s government had helped broker the final agreement between the Taliban and the Trump administration. Even so, ties between Washington and Islamabad were already deeply frayed. For two decades, U.S. officials had accused Pakistan of sheltering the Taliban while accepting billions of dollars in American aid as a nominal ally. Pakistan’s military faced further scrutiny after U.S. Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in 2011 in Abbottabad, a garrison town home to Pakistan’s military academy, a raid conducted without Islamabad’s knowledge. By the early 2020s, the prevailing view in U.S. policy circles was that Washington should leave Afghanistan and cut Islamabad loose. The dismissal of Burns’s request and the collapse of Kabul set off a chain reaction. Leaked documents reviewed by Drop Site News show that in the same period, Saudi Arabia was pressing Pakistan for a mutual defense pact—an overture Khan’s government was also rebuffing, according to the documents. In principle, Khan’s government was drawing diplomatic red lines with both Washington and the Gulf Cooperation Council, but the Pakistani military concluded he was isolating the country. In July 2021, without the prime minister’s knowledge, the military quietly retained a former CIA Islamabad station chief as a lobbyist in Washington, an early sign that Pakistan’s generals were beginning to move independently of their own elected government. READ MORE: Leaked Documents Reveal Details of the Secret Saudi Arabia–Pakistan Mutual Defense Pact All Will Be Forgiven In February 2022, Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. Driving back Russia became the Biden administration’s overriding foreign policy priority almost overnight. U.S. diplomats pressed capitals across the world to pick a side. As the world began to fracture over the conflict, Pakistan unexpectedly found itself in the center of the maelstrom. On February 24, the day Russian forces crossed into Ukraine, Imran Khan was in Moscow for a long-scheduled meeting with President Putin. Days before that fateful meeting, Jake Sullivan, national security advisor to Biden, had called his Pakistani counterpart, Moeed Yusuf, urging him to persuade Khan to cancel the trip. The details of that call, later leaked to Drop Site, show Sullivan warning against the visit and pressing Islamabad to side clearly with the U.S. in the Ukraine war. Khan ignored the warning. Photographs of Putin and Khan shaking hands went viral on social media the same day the news of the invasion hit the timelines. Pakistani officials said the trip had been planned for months and could not be cancelled. Yet the incident was not viewed innocently in Washington. Days later, Pakistan abstained from a United Nations General Assembly resolution condemning the invasion, joining China, India, and much of the Global South. U.S. diplomats, already furious over the Moscow visit and Khan’s refusal to clearly align with Washington, began telling Pakistani interlocutors privately that the relationship could not continue on its existing terms. On March 7, 2022, Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington, Asad Majeed Khan, met with Donald Lu, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs. That conversation, documented in a classified diplomatic cable that would later be leaked, became the inflection point of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship. According to the cable, Lu told the ambassador that Washington’s grievances with Khan’s government could be set aside, “all will be forgiven,” in the phrase the Pakistani ambassador would later cite, if Khan were removed from office through a no-confidence vote. (The authors of this article previously published the contents of the cable, known as a cypher in Pakistan, but had withheld the memo itself for source protection reasons. The cypher can now be published in full, so it can be a part of the historical record. It is now available here.) Khan was removed on April 9, 2022, in a no-confidence vote backed by Pakistan’s military. His party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, was subsequently outlawed, stripped of its electoral symbol ahead of the 2024 general election, and barred from fielding candidates under its own banner. Members who won seats as independents were denied certification. Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were jailed on a series of corruption, contempt, and national security charges. Both remain in prison to this day, Khan under solitary confinement since last year. Under the new government, installed with the military’s backing, Islamabad began delivering to Washington what it had refused to deliver under Khan. Within months, Pakistan emerged as a quiet but significant supplier of artillery shells and other munitions to Ukraine. Leaked documents showed the weapons were routed through U.S. defense contractors and third-country intermediaries, easing shortages in Ukrainian stockpiles during the first year of the war. Former U.S. and Pakistani officials stated at the time that American support for Pakistan’s next International Monetary Fund program was explicitly linked to the continuation of the weapons pipeline. In July 2023, the IMF approved a $3 billion standby arrangement for Pakistan. In February 2024, both the European Union and United States looked away as the military massively rigged elections and installed a suitable government in Islamabad. During the U.S. Presidential elections the same year, the Pakistani diaspora in the United States overwhelmingly supported the Trump campaign. The reason, cited almost unanimously, was the Biden administration’s support for the military junta in Pakistan. Many prominent Pakistani-Americans and groups such as PAKPAC declared their support for the Republican campaign due to this. When Trump took office in January 2025, the question of what to do about Pakistan became an early flashpoint inside his administration. Drop Site News reported at the time that the new State Department, under Secretary Marco Rubio, clashed with the Pentagon over the direction of U.S. policy toward Islamabad, a dispute that would shape everything that followed. The Pentagon and CIA finally won and took over the relationship. The Republican promises to the Pakistani diaspora were used by the Trump administration to scare the Pakistani government into submission. The Pakistani government also proceeded to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in public relations spending during this period according to publicly available FARA filings. The Nuclear State On April 9, 2022, the day Khan’s government was toppled, Pakistan conducted a missile test. The missile was the Shaheen III, Pakistan’s longest range ballistic missile with a range of almost 3,000 kilometers. While Pakistan’s missile program has been focused on India, the test was essentially a validation that Islamabad’s missiles also had the capacity to reach Israel. That fact reflected a longstanding anxiety in Washington. After Khan was removed by General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Pakistan’s army chief at the time, Bajwa travelled to D.C. in October 2022 in an effort to reset ties. During the visit, which also marked his last month in office, Bajwa met with top Biden officials, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and national security adviser Jake Sullivan. In those talks, he assured the U.S. that Pakistan would limit the ranges of its missiles to just fall short of Israel. Seeking to curry even more favor, Bajwa also assured his American interlocutors that Pakistan wanted to rein in its military, limit its nuclear program, and move away from China. In October 2022, soon after General Bajwa’s return to Pakistan, Bajwa called the head of the Strategic Plan Division (SPD), the military division overseeing Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. According to a source aware of the details of the conversation, General Bajwa ordered the head of SPD to allow an American delegation to visit and inspect some sensitive nuclear sites in the country. In the hierarchy of Pakistan’s nuclear command, the head of SPD reports directly to the Joint Chief of Staff Committee (JCSC), who in turn reports to the prime minister, not to the army chief. Using this excuse, the SPD head refused General Bajwa at the time, according to sources, showing that the military chief was not completely in charge of the country’s nukes. Later the same month President Biden gave a statement claiming that, “Pakistan may be one of the most dangerous nations in the world” because the country has “nuclear weapons without any cohesion.” The statement, coming seemingly out of nowhere, stunned many observers. But according to sources privy to the internal communications over the matter, Biden’s statement was related to Bajwa’s inability to provide American inspectors access to Pakistan’s sensitive nuclear sites. Bajwa stepped down a month later, putting General Asim Munir in charge in November 2022. In 2025, after three tumultuous years heading the military-led government, Munir promoted himself to the rank of Field Marshall, created a new office of Chief of Defence Forces’ for himself, and abolished the role of JCSC through a constitutional amendment. The series of bureaucratic maneuvers—unprecedented in Pakistani history—also had the effect of placing Munir personally in charge of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. For the first time, the checks and balances surrounding Pakistan’s nuclear command had been unified under a single person: the country’s staunchly pro-U.S. army chief. A checkpoint next to large screen displaying Pakistan’s Army Chief and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir in Islamabad on April 18, 2026. Photo by Aamir QURESHI / AFP via Getty Images. Asim Munir’s Second Act To Trump, Asim Munir is “my favorite Field Marshal.” He relishes the title, musing regularly about the delightfulness of the moniker. It was never a given that Munir would wind up in such an exalted position. In April 2019, while Munir was director general of the ISI, the country’s powerful spy service, he traveled with then-Prime Minister Khan to Tehran for discussions with Iranian officials as well as officials with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Munir, according to people close to Khan, battled with the Iranians over the long-simmering insurgency in the Baloch region that is split by the Iran-Pakistan border. According to a former PTI official, Munir “used undiplomatic language in Iran and deviated from the strategy the Pakistani government had discussed internally prior to the trip,” which is characteristic of Munir’s style. A source who served in Khan’s inner circle confirmed the account to Drop Site. Pakistan and Iran cooperating to stamp out the insurgency in the Baloch region would be a step toward closer relations and run contrary to Washington’s efforts to isolate Iran. Munir, whether on orders from the U.S. or by instinct, by disrupting that relationship, was doing a strong favor for the Americans. Iranian leadership complained to Khan about Munir’s outburst and in June 2019, Khan sacked Munir over the incident, sources with knowledge of his decision making said. At eight months, it was a remarkably short tenure atop the ISI. When Bajwa initially put forward a list of successors for the position of Army chief, Munir wasn’t on it. Khan later alleged that Munir traveled to London after his firing and met with Nawaz Sharif—the former Pakistani Prime Minister who, by late 2019, was living in self-imposed exile in London after being permitted to leave Pakistan for medical treatment in the middle of a corruption sentence. According to Khan, that meeting marked the beginning of what he would later, from prison, call “the London Plan,” an alleged understanding between Munir, Sharif, and members of Pakistan’s senior judiciary under which Munir would be elevated to army chief in exchange for the political and judicial dismantling of Khan’s government and his party. Munir was appointed army chief on November 24, 2022, in a process that was widely reported to have involved extensive consultations with Nawaz Sharif. Within months of the appointment, Khan was arrested and convicted in a series of corruption, contempt, and national security cases, which have repeatedly fallen apart under scrutiny, only to be replaced with new charges. Sharif returned to Pakistan in October 2023; the bulk of his outstanding convictions were vacated within weeks. By February 2024, his younger brother, Shehbaz Sharif, was again prime minister, and Munir was the most powerful figure in the country. Khan remains in prison and this month three Islamabad High Court judges, Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Babar Sattar, and Saman Rafat Imtiaz, were transferred out of the capital and into provincial high courts in Lahore, Peshawar, and Karachi, scattering the bench that had been hearing his appeals. Stopping China For most of the past decade, Pakistan’s relationship with China stood as the one constant in its foreign policy. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, launched in 2015 as the flagship of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, brought tens of billions of dollars in highways, power plants and port infrastructure to a country that had struggled to attract foreign investment. Senior officials in Islamabad described the relationship in language reserved for no other partner, calling it “all-weather,” and “deeper than the deepest sea.” Under Munir, that relationship has slowed almost to a halt. Of the roughly 90 projects originally envisioned under CPEC, only 38 have been completed. Twenty-three remain under construction. About a third have not been started. The last major project to be delivered, the Gwadar East Bay Expressway, was finished in 2022. No flagship project has been added to the pipeline since. ML-1, the upgrade of Pakistan’s main north-south rail line and once the centerpiece of CPEC’s planned second phase, has been deferred repeatedly. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif left Beijing empty-handed after a 2024 visit intended to secure new funding. Pakistan’s unpaid dues to Chinese power producers have ballooned into a recurring source of friction. Beijing’s ambassador in Islamabad, Jiang Zaidong, took the unusual step of using a public seminar in 2024 to accuse the Pakistani state of failing to protect Chinese workers, 21 of whom have been killed in attacks since CPEC’s launch. The relationship was even colder behind the scenes. In 2024, Drop Site News reported that Pakistan had given Beijing private assurances it would permit China to convert the deep-water port at Gwadar into a permanent Chinese military facility, a longstanding ambition by Beijing that Pakistan had declined for more than a decade. According to classified Pakistani military documents reviewed by Drop Site News, Pakistani negotiators presented Beijing with a list of demands in exchange for that base. They asked China to indemnify Pakistan against any U.S. political, economic or diplomatic retaliation for hosting the facility. They also asked China to provide modernization assistance to keep Pakistan’s military and intelligence capabilities competitive with India. Most consequentially, they asked Beijing to provide Pakistan with a sea-based nuclear second-strike capability, the most sensitive element of any nuclear power’s deterrent, and a capability Pakistan has spent two decades trying to develop on its own. China refused. According to sources with knowledge of the talks, Beijing concluded that the second-strike request would amount to direct Chinese participation in nuclear proliferation in South Asia, and therefore would violate Beijing’s own nonproliferation commitments and expose China to international consequences disproportionate to the strategic value of the Gwadar facility. The Chinese side described the demand as unreasonable, and the negotiations ended on a bitter note. READ MORE: Pakistan Promised China a New Militarized Naval Base, Leaked Documents Reveal In an August 2025 interview, Munir told a journalist, “We will not sacrifice one friend for the other,” referring to Pakistan’s relationship with Washington and Beijing. However, in an effort to realign itself, Pakistani military leadership has ended up doing just that. CPEC’s second phase, which would have deepened Pakistan’s economic dependence on Beijing, was intentionally allowed to atrophy, and Chinese requests for permanent security arrangements covering its workers, a long-running Beijing demand that would have placed Chinese personnel on Pakistani soil under Chinese command, were quietly deflected. These moves had more geopolitical significance for Washington than Pakistan’s participation in the Trump family’s crypto schemes, and did more to make Munir Trump’s “favorite field marshal.” Web of Alliances In September 2025, Pakistan signed a mutual defense pact with Saudi Arabia committing each country to come to the other’s aid in the event of war, an agreement Khan’s government had refused to sign three years earlier. Throughout the same period, Pakistan’s new military-led government, working in close coordination with the Pentagon, set about cultivating the new Trump administration. When the Trump family moved into cryptocurrency, Islamabad followed, establishing the Pakistan Crypto Council. Within weeks of the body’s creation, the leadership of World Liberty Financial, the decentralized finance platform launched in September 2024, and majority owned by the Trump family, landed in Islamabad. The April 26 delegation was led by Zach Witkoff, the chief executive of World Liberty and son of Steve Witkoff, and included co-founders Zak Folkman and Chase Herro. By the end of the visit, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, in presence of Field Marshal Asim Munir, had signed a memorandum committing Pakistan to route a share of its $36 billion in annual remittances through the Trump-family-owned firm’s USD1 stablecoin. When concerns about U.S. dependence on Chinese rare earth mineral supply chains became a recurring theme in administration messaging, Pakistan announced a sweeping rare earths agreement with U.S. partners. The September 2025 deal, signed by the military-run Frontier Works Organization and a Missouri-based firm called U.S. Strategic Metals, promised $500 million in American investment in exchange for Pakistani antimony, copper, tungsten, and rare earth elements. Beyond a symbolic first consignment dispatched a few weeks later, no commercial-scale shipments have moved under the deal in the months since. And when the Trump administration sought a Muslim-majority country to commit troops to its proposed international stabilization force in Gaza, the Pakistani military volunteered. Throughout this Trump presidency, Pakistan has found a way to stay relevant and in the headlines, promising much but delivering little. Despite being ceaselessly hyped by Islamabad, the current efforts at mediating an end to the war seem to have reached a familiar impasse. While Munir initially touted the idea of signing an “Islamabad Accord” that would not only put an end to the current fighting but lead to a new era of peace between Iran and the U.S. At present those efforts appear to have stalled. While Pakistan officially retains its role as a mediator, the prospects of a negotiated deal brokered by Islamabad appear more remote than they did one month prior. Meanwhile, there is increasing pressure on President Trump from pro-Israel voices in the United States to drop Pakistan as a mediator in the Iran talks and reassess Islamabad’s growing political and military proximity to the administration. Following a report by CBS News, newly purchased by pro-Israel mogul David Ellison, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) questioned Pakistan’s legitimacy as a mediator and accused it of “double-dealing” by allegedly providing safe harbor to an Iranian jet. Pakistan insists that the plane was part of the Iranian delegation, which stayed in Pakistan a few extra days in anticipation of the talks. But the denial did not stop Graham from pressing War Secretary Pete Hegseth on the matter at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday; Hegseth declined to respond. Trump was not so evasive. When the same question was put to him by a reporter later that day, he replied, “They’re great. I think the Pakistanis have been great. The field marshal and the prime minister of Pakistan have been absolutely great.” Leave a comment Share From Drop Site News via This RSS Feed.
Komunitas
hexbear.net
That makes sense, except kkkanada and europe are not military peers to the US. Even collectively, they remain heavily dependent on US-controlled systems such as logistics, intelligence, satellites, encrypted communications, and weapons software, which gives Washington enormous leverage over their defense capabilities and limits their ability to operate independently in a high-intensity conflict. Effort post about the chinese military incoming. The only true near-peer military competitor the US currently faces is China, and even then only in the context of a US-initiated conflict in East Asia. The PLA is not structured for global expeditionary warfare like the US military, but rather for regional denial, escalation control, and defeating intervention forces before they can establish dominance. That difference in mission profile is crucial for understanding the balance of power. In terms of current military capabilities, the US still maintains advantages in global power projection, combat experience, nuclear submarine quieting, long-range bomber operations, and alliance integration. The US operates 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers supported by a mature carrier air wing doctrine and worldwide basing network, something China does not yet possess. The US also retains superiority in strategic airlift, overseas logistics, and sustained multi-theater operations. However, China’s advantages lie elsewhere, and increasingly in areas that matter more in a modern industrial war. China now possesses the largest navy in the world by ship count, and more importantly, the world’s most powerful naval shipbuilding capacity. Chinese shipyards can produce major surface combatants at a pace the US cannot dream to replicate. Type-055 destroyers (equivalent in displacement to cruisers) are being launched at rates comparable to US WWII production, while the US struggles to replace aging hulls. In a prolonged conflict, this industrial replacement capacity alone dramatically shifts the balance. This industrial advantage extends across the force. China produces missiles, drones, ships, and aircraft domestically with minimal reliance on foreign suppliers, while the US defense industry has become highly consolidated, slow to scale, and dependent on long supply chains. American production of key systems such as precision munitions, interceptors, and naval platforms cannot currently match the consumption rates projected in a peer war. China’s missile forces represent perhaps its greatest asymmetric strength. The PLA Rocket Force is the largest in the world, fielding thousands of conventional ballistic and cruise missiles. Systems such as the DF-21D and DF-26 (often described as “carrier killers”) are designed specifically to deny US naval access inside the First and Second Island Chains. China has also deployed the DF-17 hypersonic glide vehicle, giving it operational hypersonic capability years ahead of the United States. In contrast, the US has yet to field hypersonic weapons at scale. In the air and maritime domain, China has built one of the densest integrated air defense networks on Earth, combining HQ-9 and HQ-22 systems with early-warning radar, counter-stealth detection research, and layered missile coverage. This significantly constrains US airpower near China’s coastline and forces reliance on long-range standoff weapons. China’s progress in space, cyber, and electronic warfare is equally central. The PLA treats space as a warfighting domain, not merely a support function. It has demonstrated direct-ascent anti-satellite missiles, co-orbital systems, electronic jamming, and satellite-interference capabilities. The US, which relies far more heavily on satellites for navigation, targeting, and communications, is structurally more vulnerable in this domain. A major factor often ignored in surface-level comparisons is industrial and economic integration. China’s military-civil fusion system allows civilian industries: shipbuilding, electronics, AI, telecommunications, robotics, and aerospace to be rapidly adapted for military production. Dual-use manufacturing is not an exception but a foundation of PLA modernization. This gives China the ability to surge production during crisis in ways the US system, divided between civilian and defense sectors, struggles to match. Access to critical minerals and rare earth elements further reinforces this advantage. China dominates global refining and processing of rare earths essential for advanced weapons systems, including: jet engines, radar arrays, guidance systems, precision munitions, drones, and electric motors. Even US weapons production remains partially dependent on Chinese-processed materials, creating strategic vulnerability that cannot be solved quickly. In emerging systems, China is advancing rapidly. The PLA is heavily investing in autonomous and AI-enabled warfare, emphasizing mass over boutique platforms. Drone swarms, loyal-wingman aircraft, autonomous surface vessels, and underwater drones are being developed to overwhelm defenses through scale. Drones displayed at recent Victory Day parades including stealth UAVs, long-range strike drones, and cooperative swarm platforms indicate a doctrine focused on saturation and system disruption rather than platform-to-platform parity. Looking forward, several major programs could significantly alter the balance. China’s navy is expected to transition from conventionally powered carriers to Type-004 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, which would eliminate endurance limitations and allow true blue-water operations. While China currently lacks carrier experience comparable to the US, even one or two nuclear carriers would mark a fundamental shift in operational reach during the 2030s. In the air domain, China continues expanding its fifth-generation fleet with the J-20 and J-35, while credible evidence points toward the development of a tactical stealth bomber or medium-range stealth strike aircraft, filling the gap between fighters and the H-20 strategic bomber program. Combined with loyal-wingman drones and long-range precision strike, this would significantly increase China’s ability to contest air superiority regionally. China is also modernizing its nuclear forces, moving from minimum deterrence toward a survivable second-strike posture. New missile silos, road-mobile ICBMs, submarine-launched JL-3 missiles, and early-warning systems indicate a maturing nuclear triad, even if total warhead numbers remain below those of the US and Russia. Taken together, the competition is no longer simply about who has more advanced individual platforms. It is about industrial depth, sustainment capacity, access to resources, dual-use integration, and the ability to replace losses under wartime conditions. The US still holds decisive advantages in global reach and experience, but China now holds clear advantages in missile warfare, regional denial, shipbuilding capacity, and industrial mobilization. As China’s carrier force, long-range aviation, autonomous systems, and nuclear infrastructure mature, the gap continues to narrow.
Komunitas
hexbear.net
The most useful of many political functions of anti-Zionism—as with antisemitism before Jews returned to their homeland—is building coalitions of grievance and blame against a small nation with a universally inflated and mostly negative image. How is this a “political function”? Like, what are the nefarious or duplicitous “coalitions of grievance” (words of the deranged) built for? If they aren’t built for such ulterior motives, then what are you even complaining about? That people who the zionists keep bombing have decided to put aside their differences for a second to fight back? If you’re so opposed to the “coalitions of grievance”, maybe try spreading less grievance around the world. This galvanizing enmity has united the pan-Arab and Islamist alliance against Israel since 1948. It powered the red-green coalition at the United Nations and seeds anti-Israel campus coalitions that are anti-American in all but name. Yeah no shit sherlock. Fucking bugers will connect a 2 piece puzzle and when it forms a picture it blows their mind. I swear to God Yankees when they discover that making 2 trillion enemies has consequences.
Komunitas
lemmy.ml
You’re really dedicated here to handwaving away the violence committed by the police before the bombing and also handwaving away that the cops were asked by the Mayor to not interfere. Maybe, just maybe, if the pigs hadn’t fucking showed up, it would have never happened. It’s also handwaving away that only 2 of the 8 men put to death for the bombing were actually at the Haymarket event, and it was never conclusively proven that any of them built the bomb. They also never proved conclusively who threw it, but they put 8 men to death over it. Also, it’s handwaving away the brutal crackdown on union organizers afterwards. Maybe, just maybe, the reason the labor organizations acquiesced and distanced themselves is because all the businesses, property owners, newspapers, and government were busy vilifying them. How much choice did the labor movement actually have in the date? There was disagreement among labor unions at this time about when a holiday celebrating workers should be, with some advocating for continued emphasis of the September march-and-picnic date while others sought the designation of the more politically charged date of May 1. Conservative Democratic President Grover Cleveland was one of those concerned that a labor holiday on May 1 would tend to become a commemoration of the Haymarket affair and would strengthen socialist and anarchist movements that backed the May 1 commemoration around the globe. In 1887, he publicly supported the September Labor Day holiday as a less inflammatory alternative, formally adopting the date as a United States federal holiday through a law that he signed in 1894. So the labor movement is Grover Cleveland? And so it’s pretty clear it was because they wanted to prevent socialists from strengthening their numbers. Give me a break. Stop trying to rewrite history and get that boot out of your slobbery mouth. Also, finally, stop repeating “anarchist” like it’s supposed to be an insult. “Not on May 4th” is the definition of splitting hairs, chucklefuck.
Komunitas
lemmy.mildgrim.com
Yeah, for the most part. I’m working towards my dreams and they feel within reach even though I know the path there is both long and arduous. It will require a lot of me, but that is more due to what my dreams are than any circumstances around me. How it happened is of course a hard question to answer. In some ways, perhaps many ways, dumb luck, I met my wife in an unlikely place and she has built me up brick by brick over many years by now. Without her it’s hard to imagine I’d, we’d, be in such a good place all around. But that isn’t really helpful, focusing on the parts I had no and have no control over. If we instead look only on my actions I think there are a few but more importantly a few key insights that helped me: Actions: Fake it till you make it. Confidence is all important in our society, if you don’t have it naturally then you need to fake it. Over time it becomes second nature. Take care of yourself, first. Like they say in the preflight security rundown, put on your own mask first before you attempt to help others. Take responsibility for your own well being. Related to the one above but this is more on the emotional level, while external factors will of course impact your well being you don’t have direct control over them. You can’t expect anyone else you make you feel good/well so you need to shoulder that burden. Insights: You rely on society and it relies on you: while work sucks and is often times completely meaningless and seemingly detrimental to the world from a long term macro perspective it’s still the case that your dream life involves amenities and comforts that require people to work. And you can’t expect that of others unless you yourself put in the same effort. You aren’t in control and you never truly will be: while this might be a hard pill to swallow you need to make peace with the fact that you could get cancer the day you reach your ultimate goal and that’s just part of this reality. You can only impact your actions and improve your chances, you can’t guarantee shit. Celebrate your victories no matter the source of them and learn from your own mistakes but don’t let external circumstances crush you. Life just isn’t far: relates to the above. Some people smoke and drink and do copious amounts of drugs are still wildly successful and rich and live to 100. Some work their asses off, are the nicest people ever, live clean and healthy and then die in cancer in their 30s with two young children left behind. Dwelling on this solves nothing. It’s just a part of our reality and isn’t really meaningfully changed or impacted by politics. Those are my two cents EDIT: Hmm, I skipped something that might be super obvious but I shouldn’t assume: Action: Smile and the world smiles at you: not in the sense that you’re guaranteed or owed a smile but rather that being kind and putting out good vibes makes life smoother and happier for us all. This is not to say that we should accept bad things of course, but make sure to reduce the collateral damage of your negative emotions and feelings, think surgical strike on a specific, deserving, target and not carpet bombing everything and everyone. You need friends, or at the very least someone to talk to: Ties in to the above in that if you don’t dump your negative emotions on the world then we’re do you dump it? Because carrying that shit around or just eating the bad emotions yourself is not a viable approach. No, you need to have people to vent to/with. Be that your partner, friends, family or a professional. This goes for all bullshit like getting sick and missing an event you’ve looked forward to and had tickets to for months. Or being passed up for a promotion in favor of Kenny who by all metrics does a worse job than you. You need to vent that shit out because being in a shitty mood and making everyone else uncomfortable is not going to make your life any better or happier.
Komunitas
hexbear.net
A Red Sails post (or something like that- unfortunately can’t recall which) talks a bit about the military/statecraft as being similar to gangs - and that’s made a lot of sense to me. Similar recruitment tactics and preying on the vulnerable, and a similar level of disregard for life for those in it when they stop being useful. And the generational trauma and indoctrination that keeps topping up the ranks with new rubes. My family have a long line of hillbillies who enlisted at various points or were drafted. And let me tell you - they’re all pretty mentally broken! Either took lives, or saw lots of other people die. Fortunately, my grandpa taught me how ashamed he was to be involved in the Korean invasion and why he opposed violence. And if I didn’t learn from that - my other relatives enlistments resulted in: everyone in their unit dying from an IED but them, family strife resulting in a suicide, spouse leaving them for their CO (that one kinda makes me laugh unfortunately), permanent spine injury, severe asthma from exhaust, and a boatload of anger issues! Don’t enjoy being the one to break the generational trauma cycle (in terms of therapy efforts) but worth it so ~~no other relatives ever~~ I can tell everyone to never join the military. Most depressing thing was when I did a mentorship program with an “inner-city” school during trump 1, and they were all joking about how they’d probably get sent to war with china in their lives. Nothing like economic precarity to provide grist for the mill! Fucking beast that preys on the poor, I tell ya. It’s all bad folks! Edited to state that no one should join the military- not just my relatives Edit 2: not 100% sure this was the article but matches somewhat with the Tupac interview portion of it: masses elites and rebels- red sails) This happens to be essentially what rap legend Tupac Shakur did in a 1995 interview: (Knowing what you know, what do you think about youth and gang violence in America? Especially in the Black communities and Hispanic communities using gang violence…) I think… um, I think I’m gonna get a lot of flak for it. I think gangs can be positive. It just has to be organized and has to steer away from being self-destructive to being self-productive. I think this country was built on gangs and, you know, I think this country still is run on gangs. Republicans, Democrats, the police department, the FBI, the CIA… those are gangs, you know what I mean? The correctional officers. I had a correctional officer tell me straight-up “We’re the biggest gang in New York State.” Straight-up, you know what I mean? This whole country is built on gangs, we just have to not be so self-destructive about it. Organized, you know? (But the violence…) The violence? But it’s violence in America. What did the USA just do, flying to Bosnia? We ain’t got no business over there, you know what I mean? It’s the same thing. How can they tell us not to have gangs. You know what gang violence is, mostly? And the people don’t want you to hear this. Somebody shoots your family member, so of course you retaliate. You know what I mean? Same thing the U.S. does, except nobody even shot their family members, you know? They see somebody bomb a school and all these people get killed, so the United States is like “Oh, that’s messed up, we’ve got to go show them who’s the real killers.” The same mentality these gangsters get, you know what I mean? So until they stop that mentality we won’t stop. Or they won’t stop, because they watch this country to see what they do. America is the biggest gang in the world, you know what I mean? Look at how they didn’t agree with Cuba, so what did they do? Cut ‘em off. That’s what we’re doing the street: we block things off. I want to say stop the violence. I want to say the violence ain’t good… (Why can’t you say that?) Because that’s not realistic! I know it’s not good. If anybody will speak up against violence, it’ll be the brother that got shot five times. I got shot twice all up in my… trust me, violence ain’t cool. And they know violence ain’t cool! Ain’t nobody out there with a gun saying it’s “cool” to be shooting people. It’s just, you know, in certain situations where there is no way out… But there are situations where we can find the way out. But until we find that way out we can’t say not to live this lifestyle. [33]
Komunitas
hexbear.net
and its not even that. a bare minimum would mean you get a restroom (small shower + toilet + sink and mirror) and a small stove + fridge imo. soviet union built small things like that to solve immediate demand after ww2 where they had a ton of homeless people due to bombings.
Komunitas
news.abolish.capital
As far as we know, the US invading forces that attacked the country on January 3 did not plant any mines on Venezuelan soil. But, figuratively speaking, they did, because every day, here and there, a situation erupts that is clearly a consequence of the bombing and the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores. Some of these explosions even appear far more precise than the military operation – a term its proponents insist on using to describe it, despite the fact that it left more than a hundred people dead and caused significant material damage. In the four months that have passed since that traumatic morning, the country has witnessed what appear to be controlled demolitions at the very foundations of Venezuela’s 21st-century anti-hegemonic policy: the return of the US embassy; visits by high-ranking officials (including the head of the CIA); reintegration into the International Monetary Fund; reforms to fundamental laws; and even actions that appear motivated by a desire for symbolic humiliation, such as the removal of uranium from a historic but decommissioned nuclear reactor located on the outskirts of Caracas or Donald Trump’s alleged intention to annex Venezuela as the 51st state. Every “mine” that explodes deepens a wound that, strictly speaking, is far from healing because it was inflicted on Venezuelan pride and hurts, above all, the Chavista base, but also people from other political camps who share a strong sense of nationalism. Managing this systematic destruction of icons has been one of the most demanding challenges for the acting government, especially in terms of responding to its own supporters and to real internal power brokers, both within the sphere of popular power and within the military and police forces. Peace and continuity One of the most surprising aspects of the political period marked by the events of January 3 is that the country – which was invaded, bombed, and had its president kidnapped – has managed to maintain internal peace. Even more astonishing is that Chavismo, subjected to such a decapitation operation, has remained in power and has swiftly reestablished diplomatic and even cordial relations with the aggressor power. This strange phenomenon was immediately exploited by internal and external opponents of the Bolivarian Revolution to disseminate accusations of treason. Those accused have responded by arguing that this was not a voluntary compromise, but rather concessions that any rational person would make in a hostage situation and under the threat of even worse attacks and reprisals. In an unusual move, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres weighed in on this debate, voicing his suspicion that there was internal collusion in the military operation against Maduro. A significant portion of Chavismo understands the need to reject these hypotheses and agrees that national peace is well worth the sacrifice of some of the slogans that propelled this movement to rise and remain at the pinnacle of political power. The conflict arises when it becomes clear that, for many revolutionary activists, these slogans embody fundamental principles and values. The controversy surrounding this issue lies dormant beneath the surface, like a geological fault line that became active following the bombing. At times, it surfaces in the form of minor tremors, through the critical attitudes of figures associated with Chavismo. The ground also trembles from the doubts and unanswered questions in the daily lives of sectors affiliated with or sympathetic to the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). One of the voices that has been speaking out from the ranks of the organic intelligentsia is that of Luis Britto García, who has raised objections to the reforms of the Hydrocarbons and Mining Laws, which, in his view, will allow for the unfettered plundering of Venezuela’s abundant natural resources and enable any disputes to be settled by foreign courts. He also rejects the return of the IMF, given the role that this and other multilateral organizations have played in imposing economic policies that are fundamentally anti-popular. Britto García is unwavering in his ideological and legal objections, but he is also extremely careful not to present himself as an internal opponent of the acting president. Drawing on his immense moral authority, he has taken on the role of being the public voice for many who lack the ability or opportunity to express their views. Meanwhile, some who clearly do not wish to be named say they have chosen to contribute through their silence, as the timing is highly inappropriate for taking sides. Others, however, have chosen to openly dissent. Prominent among them is journalist Mario Silva, who built his career as an opinion-maker on the provocative television show La Hojilla and was later elected to the 2017 National Constituent Assembly and the 2021–2025 National Assembly. With his opposition to the oil and mining reforms as well as amnesty policies for opposition figures who participated in insurrections and riots, Silva has stirred up controversy, particularly among segments of the grassroots Chavista movement that identify with his dramatic and incisive style, which was once strongly supported by Commander Hugo Chávez. In the vacuous yet highly topical realm of social media influencers, “dissidents” have also emerged, such as Diego Omar Suárez, “Michelo,” an Argentine YouTuber and TikToker who moved to Venezuela in 2024 and had been a key figure in the online discourse on these and other social media platforms, supporting the government of Nicolás Maduro and, in the early weeks, that of Delcy Rodríguez. However, he changed his stance to speak out against treason and collusion with the US. (1) The Pilgrimage strategy These disruptions have further obstructed the path of the interim government, which is grappling with a very difficult economic situation; they have become additional “landmines” along the way, forcing the government to move forward with extreme caution while navigating these threats. One of the strategies designed to maintain popular support and mobilization has been the Pilgrimage against the blockade and the unilateral coercive measures or sanctions imposed by the US and its allies. The Pilgrimage sought to mobilize support from the Chavista parties, which in the days immediately following January 3 had taken to the streets demanding the return of the presidential couple. That demand was redirected toward calling for a Venezuela free of economic sanctions. Beyond giving new momentum to the Chavista camp, the mobilization sought to broaden the government’s support base by prioritizing the elimination of the blockade and sanctions. To achieve this new consensus, the acting president has capitalized on the groundwork laid by the Amnesty Law, the Program for Peace and Democratic Coexistence, and other reconciliation initiatives, such as the one established for labor issues, which allowed her to get through May 1 by decreeing increases in bonuses without committing to meaningful wage hikes. Fundamental in this regard has been the willingness of Chavismo to cede institutional spaces – such as the Office of the Ombudsman, the Ministry of Higher Education, several vice ministries, and several embassies – to figures from the moderate opposition. It is clear that the support obtained outside the Chavista camp has been the result of these prior concessions. What about the opposition? In this complex political landscape, the opposition forces appear, now more than ever, to be watching the game from the sidelines, standing around the table, while the pieces are moved by the acting government and the United States. The moderate opposition, which participated in the 2025 parliamentary elections and entered the new National Assembly that began its term on January 5, has since January 3 wavered between capitalizing on the moment by supporting the so-called “reinstitutionalization” of the country and reverting to old obstructionist tactics that are largely ineffective given the overwhelming majority that Chavismo holds in the national legislature. From the perspective of public opinion, everything seems to indicate that this opposition faction has failed to present itself to the country as a genuine option for change, with a platform capable of rallying the masses to follow its leaders. At the other extreme is the faction led by María Corina Machado, clearly identified as the one that demanded (and continues to demand) most vehemently that the country be sanctioned, blockaded, and attacked militarily, based on the premise that she would automatically be called upon to head a de facto government resulting from the bombing and the kidnapping of the constitutional president. Donald Trump’s surprising support for Delcy Rodríguez’s government has left Machado high and dry. Neither her obsequious submission to the US president nor her lobbying of the Western corporate elites has done her any good so far, as she remains relegated to the sidelines – a situation that must be particularly humiliating for her. Under the current circumstances, Machado appears more a part of the internal US political diatribe than of the Venezuelan political scene. Following her failed efforts to secure Trump’s endorsement (to whom she gifted her Nobel Prize), she seems to be actively working with the Democrats and elements of the Deep State with the aim of inflicting a defeat on the Republican president in the midterm elections. It seems her allegiances have shifted, creating a bizarre paradox: Venezuela’s radical opposition is betting against Trump, while Chavismo feels more secure if the president who ordered the brutal military aggression does not emerge too battered from the November contest. It appears, then, that the “metaphorical landmines” planted by the US during its brief invasion are also exploding, one after another, on the grounds of the right and the far right. (1) Editor’s note: this article was written before the May 16 handover of former minister and diplomatic envoy Alex Saab to US authorities. Clodovaldo Hernández is a journalist and political analyst with experience in higher education. He won the National Journalism Prize (Opinion category) in 2002. He is the author of the booksReinventario*(poetry and short stories)De genios y de figuras(journalistic profiles) andEsa larga, infinita distancia(novel).* The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Venezuelan editorial staff. The post The Post-January 3 Minefield in Venezuela appeared first on Venezuelanalysis. From Venezuelanalysis via This RSS Feed.
Komunitas
news.abolish.capital
Bullets: China has monopolies on supply chains and manufacturing of industrial drones. Drones are suddenly and widely in use by non-NATO countries across the world, and wreak havoc on weapons platforms and fixed targets worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The War Department is scrambling to close the gap with China, and is looking for suppliers for thousands of suicide drones. To clear the way for US companies, Washington has banned new imports of Chinese drones, which are popular in American small businesses, heavy industry, and in fire and police departments. But even if the Pentagon can eventually buy and deploy drones at low cost, drones cannot be defended against at low cost. Inside China / Business is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Report: Good morning. China has monopolies on the manufacturing of drones, and on the supply chains for drones. That’s because China, before anyone else, was building drones for industrial and commercial markets. That’s where the demand is. There will always be a lot more people who use drones for peaceful means and ends, compared to the population of people who want them for war. The civilian market is also where cost and quality matter. The Pentagon is indifferent to cost; money is no object. That point of view is not prevalent in businesses. And here we are taking just a handful of examples, how small businesses are using drones in industry, and even to create new industries. Here operators are using drones to feed fish in offshore farms. In South Florida alone, there are a dozen companies that use drones to power-wash roofs and buildings 40 stories high. Those drones cost $6,000 - $15,000 each to buy from Chinese factories—so they’re not cheap—but they replace a whole crew of guys dangling from cables, off the sides of buildings. Cleanings can be done more often, and obviously more safely. Empower Field is where the Denver Broncos play, and they’re not hurting for money, and they use drones there to clean the stadium. That’s a new industry. It didn’t exist even just five years ago. Drones are heavily used now in construction, and in mining. Mining companies are using drones to do surveying work, in blast management, and in search and rescue of trapped miners. We know that drones are already in heavy use by hobbyists and videographers, but when affordable tools become available, industry and business people are clever in asking how they can be used in their own trades, to do their jobs better, and less expensively, and safer. Chinese companies are way ahead of everyone else on drones, because those are the markets that Chinese companies build for: civilian users. Militaries across the world have learned the hard way that drones are also ruthlessly effective in warfare, at low cost. The Pentagon and other Western militaries are trying to catch up, and to dominate with drones in the same way they did in the past, with other transformative technologies. But the Chinese are already there in drones, and getting away from China won’t happen fast, and won’t happen cheap. China has a strong hold on everything in this industry, from end-to-end. This Ukrainian unit was taking apart a Russian FPV quadcopter. The batteries, the motors, and the brain came from China, and it “could not have been built without” Chinese parts. Here’s a money quote: “(China) has already won World War III because everything is in its hands”. That won’t change soon, and it won’t change later: Our group has done several reports on Chinese drones, and the problems they are posing for other countries, and ironically even for China itself. The Chinese have strict export bans on these technologies, which restrict their intended use as weapons. And in the case of Russia and Ukraine, both sides are dependent on getting Chinese parts for their drones. The Pentagon has a $1 billion plan to break China’s grip on the industry, called “Drone Dominance. “Unleashing American Drone Dominance” was an executive order from last June, and the idea is to build drones that are completely domestic, and not reliant on parts from foreign countries. A week later the Secretary of War shared this on X, which became one of the worst-ratioed videos in the history of the internet: And this program is another example of political rhetoric, which just falls apart in the face of objective reality. There is no “American drone dominance” to unleash. It doesn’t exist. China dominates the drone industry. Chinese companies build 90% of the world’s drones, and even drone makers outside China source their parts from here, for assembly elsewhere. For each and every component, there is no getting away from China: Brushless motors—China controls at least 90% of the motors used in drones. Antennas—there are companies outside China who build them, but they cost a lot more, and Chinese-made antennas work smoothly with other Chinese components. Next is the camera. There are Japanese and American companies of sensory equipment, but assembly of the whole camera is a Chinese industry. Precision lenses – those are also all China. Batteries for drones is the same as every other battery—China owns the entire supply chain. Flight Stacks illustrate the problem, even where non-Chinese alternatives are available. The technical barriers to entry are low, but US suppliers cannot compete on price, because there is no demand, and thus no reason to mass-produce them. Drones are not complex; they’re simple. Technically anyone can build them. The China problem is the economies of scale on the manufacturing side, and the supply chains that feed the factories. China’s cost advantages are total, may as well say: The Chinese build quadcopters for civilian users across the world; an American company using non-Chinese components cannot build one for under $15,000, over three times as much. There is, again, a Chinese monopoly on batteries and motors. The batteries come from minerals on the critical supply lists, and Chinese companies monopolize the supply chains for most of them. Getting new mines opened, and then the infrastructure scaled up for mass production would take at least ten years. That’s the supply chain problem. Then there’s the demand side: DJI is the largest producer in the world for commercial drones, and DJI and a handful of other Chinese companies have 80% market share in the United States. Their drones are high quality, high performance, and don’t cost much. Nature photographers, YouTubers, and other content producers are the ones most people think of first, when we imagine who the buyers for drones are. But they’re big in real estate, civil engineering and surveying, inspection, and search and rescue operations by first responders. And there we see, again, that there is a far bigger market for people using drones to save people, instead of blowing them up. American drone companies cannot compete against DJI and Autel on price or quality, so the Pentagon is a godsend for US companies. Now they finally have a customer who doesn’t care about cost, and is probably indifferent as to the quality too. That’s not true of municipal governments, usually anyway, and certainly not in industry. The military is the only client. The Pentagon promised to buy 340,000 first-person- view drones over the course of several years. It hopes that order size is sufficiently large that the US supply chain will grow, competitors will come in, and the cost will fall. If that does happen, it will be the first time, in the history of the universe, that Pentagon contractors’ prices fall over time. $2,300 is the cost for a high-quality right now, from DJI. So the intended audience for that paragraph is someone who doesn’t know, for example, that the Pentagon pays $90,000 for bolts and screws and fasteners that cost a hundred bucks at Home Depot: Then there’s a simple problem of politics. It will take years for American companies to learn how to produce the raw materials for these parts at all, let alone manufacture them at scale, and every presidential administration has an end date. There will be a new war secretary in January of 2029, at the latest, and the drone program itself is only funded through next year, 2027. The War Department is trying to build an industry that already exists—the current industry is already high quality and low cost. So, the only way forward is to get DJI and Autel and the other Chinese drone makers completely out of the way, so US companies can compete. That was a relief to Skydio, and to a handful of others. This is Blake Resnick, age 25, whose company builds drones for police departments. BRINC knows they would have a lot more sales as soon as DJI drones are banned. He can sell a lot more drones to police departments who are happy with the DJI drones they’re using now. And when the FCC did announce the ban, drone operators across the United States were furious. Immediately they began stocking up on DJI drones and parts. These are American small business owners who will be put out of business, because American drones cannot compete. They cost more, they don’t work as well, and now that they’re building for the Pentagon there’s no reason to make their products attractive to industrial or small-business users. Companies are buying drones, batteries and parts to push out the day they’ll be out of business. 43% of pilots – these are Americans – say the effect of the ban will be extremely negative and threatens their survival. 85% said their business would last for just two years or less. There are simply no alternatives for these thousands of small companies across the United States. Now Chinese companies are banned from selling new models in the American market, and the Pentagon is buying up drones for military and weapons testing. Thousands of those higher-cost American drones are being bought for the US military, by the Department of Government Efficiency: The jokes write themselves sometimes. The strategy there is to spur production of small attack drones, and scale the US industrial base to build suicide drones. Again—there is no industrial market for that. There is no business case for a one-way drone, where a good day is launching a drone that costs thousands of dollars, that doesn’t come back. War Secretary: It’s a “new era of cheap and disposable drones.” But the only buyers in the world for “disposable” drones are militaries. And if it’s the American military, they won’t be cheap. The Pentagon announced an event fair, where up to a dozen companies will be picked to supply 1,000 drones each, for delivery in a few months. The risk to that, of course, is that drone models from different companies will function differently, and users need to be trained to do that safely every time. They will be outfitted with explosives, after all. And another risk is that the Pentagon will buy thousands of units that are obsolete by the time they get delivered to the field. The War Department has a lot of problems, then, when it comes to going into the drone business. The only way they can get a dozen American companies competing for contracts to build suicide drones, it to deliberately bankrupt thousands of companies across the United States who use drones in their business. And to tell hundreds of local governments and police and fire departments across the country that they cannot buy affordable drones to catch bad guys, or put out fires. That is the cost, American population-wide; that is the cost to society. But the Pentagon has got another problem, even if they do manage to build a domestic drone industry, where they are again the only client. And that is that they will not, ever, have a monopoly on that industry outside the United States. It’s already too late for that–the idea that the United States can be the first to get this technology figured out and deployed to the battlefield. This is a mature industry, right now, and drones are in wide use, right now, by military units in the fight, right now. That poses yet another problem: even if the Pentagon can eventually buy drones at a low cost, drones cannot be defended against at low cost. That was a real failure of imagination, by Washington. We watched Russia and Ukraine use tens of thousands of low-cost drones to attack each other, and destroy armored vehicles and equipment that are a hundred times more costly than the drone itself. But for some reason nobody thought that Iran might be watching too. Iran used low-cost drones to blow up American naval bases, and radars that cost hundreds of millions of dollars each. Aircraft totaling a billion or so more. And when Iran says that no ships are going through the Hormuz without their green light first, it’s with the implication that one of their drones costing a few thousand dollars could be sent toward a ship costing a few hundred million dollars, with another few hundred million dollars’ worth of crude oil in the tanks. Nobody is even close to solving that problem yet. In the first four days of the War on Iran, the Pentagon sent up $5.7 billion worth of interceptors to shoot down very-low-cost Iranian ballistics and drones. Just in the first four days. One Patriot missile costs millions of dollars each and takes years to build, while drones are mass-produced and cost a thousand times less. The good news, such as it is, is that some companies are hoping to build interceptor missiles that only cost tens of thousands of dollars each, instead of hundreds of thousands. The so-called Department of Government Efficiency might see that as a win these days, but we’ve just moved the decimal point over one spot. An Iranian drone costs a few thousand dollars, and these new interceptors—which haven’t been built yet—will hopefully cost just ten to twenty times that, plus remember that usually two or more interceptors are fired against a single inbound. So we’re back to the same problem as before. Iran, in the case today, wins these engagements no matter what happens. If their drone is intercepted, it is at the cost of twenty times what Iran paid to launch their drone. If the drone is not intercepted, it may go on to blow up a headquarters building, or a radar system, or a supertanker. That’s the real lesson, and that’s the real problem posed by drones overall. They cannot be stopped. Iran proved it. The Pentagon’s budget is a trillion dollars. Iran’s military spending for the past year was just one fiftieth of that–$23 billion. Iran doesn’t have nuclear weapons, or aircraft carriers, or stealth bombers. Those things aren’t important. That’s the quote from the very beginning. Iran is friendly with China, Iran builds a lot of drones. And that is all that matters. In end, this could be very good news. Instead of merely transforming modern warfare, drones may just end modern warfare completely. Be good. Resources and links: How are Drones Revolutionizing the Mining and Surveillance Industry https://karkhana.io/how-are-drones-revolutionizing-the-mining-and-surveillance-industry/ Drones and laser scanning revolutionize blast monitoring with enhanced safety and precision https://www.miningdoc.tech/2025/09/25/drones-and-laser-scanning-revolutionize-blast-monitoring-with-enhanced-safety-and-precision/ DJI still dominates the 2025 drone market — and new data proves it https://www.thedronegirl.com/2025/11/06/2025-drone-market-dji/ Drones Can Help Mining Companies Rescue Their Workers After a Mine Collapse https://dronearticles.com/drones-can-help-mining-companies-rescue-their-workers-after-a-mine-collapse/ The U.S. Wants to Break China’s Drone Dominance. Here’s Where It Will Struggle. https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/the-u-s-wants-to-break-chinas-drone-dominance-heres-where-it-will-struggle-39e69e18 America Downs Cheap Drones With Million-Dollar Missiles. A Fix Is In the Works. https://www.wsj.com/world/america-downs-cheap-drones-with-million-dollar-missiles-a-fix-is-in-the-works-2afff48a At the Pentagon, DOGE Mission to Cut Costs Includes Buying Drones https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/at-the-pentagon-doge-shifts-from-cutting-programs-to-buying-drones-9efc1861 Drone Makers Looking to Steer Clear of China Fear Beijing’s Wrath https://www.wsj.com/world/asia/drone-makers-looking-to-steer-clear-of-china-fear-beijings-wrath-8fea8508 U.S. Bans New China-Made Drones, Sparking Outrage Among Pilots https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/u-s-bans-new-china-made-drones-sparking-outrage-among-pilots-1624e32a China is restricting export of drones that can be used for military purposes and some drone features https://apnews.com/article/china-drones-export-restrictions-eb7acb88b84d97cf5fc1cbafdb650d43 China optimizes export control measures for drones, bans export intended for military purposes https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202407/1317107.shtml America’s farmers and first responders love Chinese drones. And that’s about to be a big problem. DJI drones used to feed fish https://www.facebook.com/reel/1116979861490174 VIRAL MOMENT: Michael Waltz Confronts Air Force Officials With Staggeringly Expensive Components DJI still dominates the 2025 drone market — and new data proves it https://www.thedronegirl.com/2025/11/06/2025-drone-market-dji/ Drones Can Help Mining Companies Rescue Their Workers After a Mine Collapse https://dronearticles.com/drones-can-help-mining-companies-rescue-their-workers-after-a-mine-collapse/ The Pentagon wants to build millions of drones without Chinese parts. It’s off to a bad start. Iranian strikes on bases used by US caused $800m in damage, new analysis shows https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cddq7j48p35o Iranian Strikes Have Destroyed $2.7 Billion Worth of High Value U.S. Anti-Missile Radars https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/iranian-strikes-destroyed-antimissile-radars Attack On US Navy Fifth Fleet Headquarters In Bahrain https://www.military.com/feature/2026/02/28/attack-us-navy-fifth-fleet-headquarters-bahrain.html Footage Confirms Iranian Drone Strike Took Out U.S. Army’s Most High Value Air Defence Radar From THAAD System https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/iranian-drone-destroy-radar-thaad Attack on US radar plane at Saudi base raises concern over Iran’s capabilities https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/31/destruction-us-radar-plane-saudi-base-raises-surveillance-concerns UNLEASHING AMERICAN DRONE DOMINANCE https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/06/unleashing-american-drone-dominance/ Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance This 25-Year-Old Founder Wants To Kick Chinese Drones Out Of American Skies https://www.forbes.com/sites/zoyahasan/2025/12/03/this-25-year-old-founder-wants-to-kick-chinese-drones-out-of-american-skies Inside China / Business is a reader-supported publication. 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Podcast Episode: What Trump’s “Whenever Wars” Reveal About US Empire 0:00 /4778.81465 1× "Trump is banking on the idea that the entire U.S. population is as cynical and hateful as he is. And evidently, it’s not true,” says Khury Petersen-Smith. In this episode of Movement Memos, I talk with Khury about Trump’s “whenever wars,” the spectacle of militarized violence, and the anti-war movement this moment demands. From ICE raids in U.S. cities to military violence abroad, we explore how fascism at home and empire abroad are part of the same political project, and why our resistance must be rooted in solidarity, anti-militarism, and an ever-expanding sense of who belongs to us. Music: Music: Son Monarcas, Dylan Sitts, and Mizlow TRANSCRIPT Note: This transcript was originally published in Truthout. It is reprinted here with permission. **Kelly Hayes:**Welcome to Movement Memos, aTruthout podcast about organizing, solidarity, and the work of making change. I’m your host, writer and organizer Kelly Hayes. Fascist violence can feel chaotic, and it sometimes is. But even amid the chaos, there is a political project taking shape. If we want to resist effectively, we have to understand what the fascist project is doing, what it is normalizing, and what kind of future it is trying to force into being. Today, I’m talking with Khury Petersen-Smith about Trump’s “whenever wars,” the spectacle of militarized violence, and the kind of anti-war movement this moment demands of us. We discuss why Trump should not be understood as corrupting an otherwise legitimate system, but as making a more visible and extreme use of systems that were already built on domination, coercion, and war. Khury Petersen-Smith is the Michael Ratner Middle East Fellow and Co-Director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies. He researches U.S. empire and strategizes with activists working against the violence that the U.S. carries out and supports around the world. Khury focuses especially on U.S. militarism in the Middle East and the Pacific, and on the movements resisting it. If you appreciate this podcast, and you would like to support Movement Memos, you can subscribe to Truthout’s newsletter or make a donation at truthout.org. You can also support the show by subscribing to Movement Memos on Apple or Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, or by leaving a positive review on those platforms. Sharing episodes on social media is also a huge help. Truthout is an independent news organization, publishing stories that the craven corporate press won’t touch. We are a union shop with the best family and sick leave policies in the industry, and we could not do this work without the support of readers and listeners like you. So thank you for believing in us and for all that you do. And with that, I hope you enjoy the show. [musical interlude] KH: Khury Petersen-Smith, welcome to Movement Memos. **Khury Petersen-Smith:**Thank you so much, Kelly. I’m excited to talk with you. **KH:**How are you doing today? **KPS:**I’m all right. I think I’m in general these days, including today, feeling a lot of tension, if I’m honest. I’m doing great. We have what we need in my house, and people are pretty well in my immediate circle. And I can’t get over the blessing of having food in the fridge and a roof over our heads. And then immediately outside of that circle, it feels just catastrophic. It’s such a difficult time. And there are people who are a part of my everyday life who are really struggling and people who live far away who are in very difficult situations. And I can’t believe that I share the same planet as folks in Gaza. You know what I mean? And so, I’m kind of holding that tension all the time of, like, I’m doing all right. I’m having a good day, but really feeling the pretty cataclysmic times that we’re living in. **KH:**That really resonates. And I really appreciate you naming that tension, which I’m sure a lot of people are feeling right now. Today, we’re going to talk about some ideas that come up in your recent work, including a piece you co-authored in Truthout called “Trump Has Made the US War Machine a Spectacle — and It’s Spectacularly Unpopular,” and a piece you wrote for Hammer & Hope called “Donald Trump’s Whenever Wars.” But before we get into that, what would you like our listeners to know about who you are and what you do? **KPS:**Yeah. My work is about working with people to resist the violence that the U.S. carries out and supports around the world, in particular its military violence. I work at a place called the Institute for Policy Studies, which was started in 1963 to be a think tank for social movements. The founders of IPS, Richard Barnet and Marcus Raskin, were living in D.C. They were working for the government, and they left it in disillusionment and disgust. They saw all these think tanks for the Pentagon and for Congress and the White House, and they said, “We need a think tank for social movements.” At IPS, we do research and strategize with folks, with organizers and movement leaders, and just try to be in the service of, and be collaborators with, movement organizers. We do that on all kinds of questions, whether domestic economic inequality, climate change, and the fight for climate justice. Then my work is working with activists who work to stop wars and stop things like the U.S. support for Israel’s genocide, stop U.S. support for its allies like the United Arab Emirates and what they’re doing in Sudan, and of course, stop the wars that the U.S. is carrying out directly at the moment in Iran, but in places all around the world. **KH:**Well, I really appreciate you bringing that thought work to the show during this fraught and dangerous moment. You open your Hammer & Hope piece by writing, “Donald Trump’s eagerness to use military violence, both in deploying armed forces to U.S. cities and in using them overseas, has become a defining feature of his increasingly authoritarian rule.” Can you say more about what that’s looked like? **KPS:**Yeah. I mean, I think to start with, state violence in the form of police and military violence — that’s just a feature of life in the nation state, because the people who run the society want things that they can only get through coercion. I mean, there’s lots of means to get what they want, things that you talk about on this podcast all the time. I mean, there’s dominant ideologies that serve them. There are forms of oppression like racism and sexism and homophobia and transphobia and all these things that serve to promote ideas that hold us down, divide us, all those things. And they also need armed force, actually, beyond the importance of ideology. Really, in a lot of ways, it’s at the core of what the state is. So that’s always there, but what it’s looked like…. The thing is, it’s always present. I mean, obviously policing and U.S. military power, the U.S.’s use of its military to attack other people in other places and dominate, that existed well before Donald Trump, obviously. But there are different approaches that different people at the helm of U.S. empire take. And Donald Trump’s approach tends to rely on spectacle in general. I mean, he’s such a media and narrative person at his core, but in particular, spectacular violence. And so, obviously, I shouldn’t say “obviously,” but it is the case that ICE existed well before Donald Trump, that ICE has been terrorizing our communities and carrying out all kinds of horrendous violence across this country well before Donald Trump. But what Trump has done, whereas previous presidents tried to minimize what U.S. immigration police were doing in cities, at the border, and elsewhere, Donald Trump has tried to make it highly visible as a demonstration of power. And that has been true with military power, domestically and abroad. And frankly, another feature of what it has looked like has been blurring the lines between domestic policing and military action within the U.S.’s borders and beyond the U.S.’s borders. And so we have federal immigration police wearing military uniforms, carrying military weapons, and using military tactics in cities like Chicago, in Minneapolis, in D.C., and many others, while Donald Trump is saying we should use these cities as training grounds for our wars, while the U.S. is also carrying out military interventions around the world. So, all of that is happening while Donald Trump is blurring the lines between each of these. **KH:**The connection you’re drawing here feels so important. Because I feel like our experience of fascism domestically can sometimes make people less responsive to what’s happening around the world. But we have to be cognizant of the fact that the political visions our enemies are aspiring to cannot be brought to fruition without a whole lot of death-making and human disposal, and that’s a global project. And if our analysis and our organizing don’t account for that reality, we’ve lost the plot. I want to discuss all of that more deeply. But first, I want to dig into something else you’ve written about. Trump’s violence can look chaotic, and in some ways it is. He swings between threats and deal-making, reverses himself, changes his rationale, and contradicts his own stated positions. He also seems to make life-and-death decisions through a mix of impulse, grievance, ego, and opportunism. But you argue that the chaos doesn’t mean there’s no logic at work. What larger project is this militarism serving? **KPS:**Yeah, I love this question. There are two things that I want to talk about that I see converging. One is what is happening structurally, in terms of U.S. strategy to maintain a dominant position in the 21st century. And the other is what Donald Trump and his MAGA wing of the U.S. elite are drawing on. On the first question, U.S. power in the world, I’ll call it U.S. empire or U.S. imperialism, it has some… Well, we should say, it’s done quite well for itself, particularly in the 20th century. It left the 19th century and went into the 20th century as a kind of rising power among other world powers. And it emerged from World War II as the dominant of the superpowers. And they established a system of military power, not only in the form of the U.S. military, but military alliances, like NATO and all kinds of other alliances. They established U.S. economic power. The U.S. basically wrote the rules of global commerce and economics after World War II, and political power. All of this worked really well for the U.S. in the 20th century. And as we entered the 21st century, the people running the country, having seen the collapse of their rival superpower of the Soviet Union, and having been the world’s only superpower for a decade or so, they asked the question, how can we maintain this dominance in the 21st century? And there were different groupings of people in the U.S. elite, including one grouped around something called the Project for the New American Century, which loomed large in the George W. Bush Administration, and saw the post-9/11 wars as the way to assert U.S. power and maintain US dominance in the 21st century. That did not work out well for the U.S. I mean, it first and foremost was a catastrophe for the people on the receiving end of U.S. violence in Iraq and Afghanistan and Somalia and Yemen and Pakistan. And unfortunately, I could go on, but it also did not work out well for U.S. power, from their own perspective. I mean, 20 years after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, the Taliban’s back in power. In Iraq, instead of the U.S. becoming the dominant power, actually, Iran gained a lot of influence in Iraq. So, there were all these ways that they made this gamble by launching these wars and they lost the gamble in a lot of ways. Meanwhile, the people running this country are very freaked out about the rise of China as a regional power and increasingly as a world power, certainly economically, but also politically on the world stage. So, these are the problems just from the perspective of the Washington political class and military elite, these are the problems they face, and they have been not united about which strategy will take U.S. power forward in the 21st century. And I actually think that the rise of Donald Trump and his emergence as a leader of the MAGA wing of the political class is an expression of this… It’s an expression of this figuring out that the U.S. elite is doing about how to maintain their power. So, that’s one thing. Just on a basic level, Donald Trump’s foreign policy represents a strategy, or I don’t know if I’d call it a strategy, Donald Trump’s foreign policy represents a certain approach to try to project and maintain U.S. dominance in the 21st century. The other thing is just as they think about the different tactics they’re using and the different actions that constitute Donald Trump’s approach to US power on the world, they are drawing on a deep well of U.S. imperial history and violence and ideology. And I think that this has been very confusing for a lot of people in this country. People may remember, people listening may remember, this kind of debate that really heated up last year when Donald Trump took office for his second term. That was, is Donald Trump an interventionist or an isolationist? There had been this conventional wisdom that Donald Trump was an isolationist, and that being an isolationist meant that he was not interested in starting wars abroad, and not really interested in engaging with the world militarily or otherwise. And that that was what “America First” meant. And then it was very surprising to many when we saw tons of U.S. military interventions, but also tons of threatening, bullying behavior on the world stage. That Donald Trump wants to take Greenland, that he wants Panama, etc, etc. And so, I think that one reason why that has been confusing is that the way in the United States that we tend to talk about foreign policy and U.S. military history on the world stage tends to only go back to World War II. We talk about World War II a lot, and not too much about what the U.S. was doing in the world before World War II. But if you extend that scope back, even just to the end of the 19th century, you extend it back 40 or 50 more years, then the U.S., it’s carrying out all kinds of military and colonial violence before it becomes a superpower, actually. So, if we’re talking about the conquest of this continent and actually the forging of what became the United States, I mean, the United States itself emerged as a conquering project and as a colonial project, and that kind of ongoing war against the Indigenous peoples of this country. Donald Trump, I think, is drawing on the most violent, most confrontational, most genocidal (in a word) approach that people leading this project called the U.S. have taken in that particular project of conquering this place that came to be called the United States. But then if we’re talking about the U.S. going abroad, think about the U.S. in the early 20th century, it’s carrying out all kinds of military interventions. It is invading and occupying Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is invading Cuba. It is waging a horrific war of counterinsurgency in the Philippines. It is taking Guam. It is sending its Navy all around the world to flex its strength through a show of violence. And that history in particular, I think that that kind of early 20th century moment offers a very dark and violent palate that Donald Trump is drawing from, actually. So when he talks about taking Panama, that’s not an original idea. He’s referring to a history in which the U.S. formally treated Panama as a colony with the Panama Canal and the canal zone the U.S. claimed as U.S. territory, which is incredible. Donald Trump is drawing on things like that. So, all of that is at play in the Trump approach to U.S. power on the world stage. **KH:**Your work reminds readers that Trump’s white supremacy at home and his imperial violence abroad are part of the same political project. How do racism, Christian nationalism, Islamophobia, and Western chauvinism shape that project, from attacks on immigrants and protestors here, to U.S. violence abroad? KPS: Yeah. I mean, truthfully, Donald Trump is, in a way, doing us quite a service by being so blunt and so crass in his descriptions of what he believes this country should look like and what this world should look like. When he talks about America first, the “America” that he is talking about, he’s straightforward about it being a white supremacist United States. I won’t repeat the way that he describes countries that Black people and other people of color immigrate from, but he very openly contrasts in a way that denigrates those countries with Nordic countries. And he’s saying, “We want white people.” I won’t repeat the way he described Ilhan Omar and the Somali community, but those comments are articulating a worldview that has a very strict racial hierarchy. That Africans belong in Africa, that Africans and their descendants, people like me, do not belong in this country. And if we’re going to be here, it is in a place of subservience. The Ilhan Omar example, it’s such a profound illustration because in the way Trump talks about her and the way he glitches out when he even encounters her. The way he was during the State of the Union address, he lost focus because he was so distracted by his rage at Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. Well, there we see his combination of white supremacy and misogyny and Islamophobia. He is saying that these people do not belong in this country, they certainly don’t belong in this Congress. And so, the way that we see that play out operationally is, yeah, a deportation machine that is targeting communities of color in particular, that is drawing on all of the Islamophobic tropes and racist tropes that cast people in those communities as dangers to the United States. And then simultaneously, bombing the countries of origin for these communities with the same rhetoric that these countries, these communities are essentially dangerous. The way that he talks about Iran or the way he talks about Somalia, the way he talks about Mexicans. I mean, so many communities, is that there is something essentially dangerous and something that can’t be trusted about these countries and people from them. And so, in terms of using policing and deportation and surveillance to repress and try to remove people from these communities from within the borders of the United States, and also use the Pentagon’s violence to attack these countries around the world, he’s using the same rhetoric. KH: Thank you for breaking that down. And hearing you speak, I’m thinking about the ways Trump and his lackeys gamble, quite recklessly, with the extremity of their rhetoric. Trump leans on the assumption that his base is radicalized enough to cheer on blunt cruelty, and that everyone else is either too desensitized, too overwhelmed, or too tuned out to do anything about it. So he keeps escalating the death-making, the white supremacist imagery, and the politics of grievance, as though spectacle itself can carry the violence forward. And every once in a while, when it’s clear he’s gone too far, and it seems like an alliance or support structure he needs might break, he just takes down a meme, or walks something back, and moves on. Like when he posted an image depicting himself as Jesus, and then said, oh, never mind, I thought that was me as a doctor. Those moments are sometimes just blips in the news cycle, and sometimes, they have lasting impacts. We saw that with the murder of Alex Pretti, who the administration tried to depict as a would-be assassin. But that characterization didn’t stick, and we saw the fall of [Border Patrol head Greg] Bovino. We’ve also seen it with Iran, where Trump didn’t really do any of the usual legwork to manufacture consent for a war, and thought he could just conjure up enough contempt and nationalism to make it work on the fly. He’s gotten so far with the politics of grievance, self-adulation, and showmanship that he doesn’t see any boundary lines. And I think that’s something we need to pay attention to. When and how do these tactics fall short? When do they backfire? This is a man who believes he can drag us headlong into any narrative that suits him. So where do those efforts fray, and what does that open up for us? **KPS:**Yeah. I just think that your point about Trump actually assuming that people are with him on everything, and then crashing against the limits of what people will accept. I think that that is actually deeply inspiring and hopeful, because Trump is banking on the idea that the entire U.S. population is as cynical and hateful as he is. And evidently, it’s not true. This is a time of so many things of such violence of different kinds, but it is also this time of revelation. And I’m just thinking about what all has been revealed to people in this country, even in the past six years. I mean, I think about the murder of George Floyd, which the movement for Black lives was raging and impactful before 2020. But that moment when there was a video of police murdering a Black man in broad daylight in Minneapolis with utter contempt for his humanity, it’s like his humanity didn’t even register to them. And so many people in this country, I think in particular so many people who are not Black, saw that and the response was, “Oh my goodness, this is what it looks like?” Many people who thought, “I knew that racism was a problem. I maybe heard things about the police, but I didn’t know it looked like this.” And it provoked this explosion of protest. And I think that this past year, the first year of Trump’s second term has also been such a time of revelation. Actually, before we talk about Donald Trump coming back, I think we actually have to talk about the Gaza genocide too, which I think has profoundly impacted the U.S. population. I think that that is actually related to the revelation that many people in this country had about anti-Black racism in light of the movement for Black lives and the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. People were changed by those murders and the uprisings that they provoked. And with those changed eyes, were able to see Palestinians in Gaza in a different way. And we have to acknowledge and appreciate, even though it’s kind of excruciating, that one of the things that Palestinians in Gaza did so effectively and movingly is actually document the very genocide that was being carried out against them. They took to their phones and they showed us what it was like and were able to get this direct line to people in this country on our phones. And I think, again, it was this revelation. It was like, “Oh, this is what the U.S. is supporting? I thought that the U.S. was doing something for democracy or Israel was acting in self-defense, and that is not what this looks like.” So, people in this country have learned a lot, I think, in these past six years. And again, seeing the deployments of ICE, seeing the way that Bovino would walk through the streets, it was a revelation to so many Americans who, because this country’s so segregated, weren’t aware of what immigrant communities have been dealing with, including people who accepted Trump’s arguments that oh, we’re just targeting the so-called criminals, the “bad guys.” And then we see, we see how ICE behaves and the response was incredible mobilization. And mobilization of so many kinds, not only in the streets confronting the police as powerful and important as that was, but figuring out how to feed neighbors who were afraid to go to the grocery store. Figuring out how to pay folks’ rent. Figuring out how to stand with the families who sent their kids to the same school as yours. So all of this, I think, has been so not only inspiring, but I think it points to something actually deeply hopeful. Donald Trump has a kind of… Again, I don’t know if it’s a strategy, but an approach that is, if I commit acts of horrendous racialized violence and actually broadcast those acts, that people will be with me. And actually we’ve seen the opposite. **KH:**I think there’s something so true about what you’re saying, and it feels like a “yes, and” situation to me. Because yes, it’s inspiring, and it’s a huge reminder of our potential, when the response Trump is counting on doesn’t materialize, when people don’t cheer the violence, or look away, but instead rally, voice outrage, and take action. And there’s also the slow, cumulative damage of the moments when the spectacle does work, or when people don’t react, because they’re becoming so accustomed to the constant barrage of terrible rhetoric and terrible action. People can feel like they can’t respond to all of it, or they don’t know how to respond to every iteration of it. I’m thinking about the normalization of ICE agents in airports, for example, and the normalization of this fascist militarism tightening its grip on our daily lives. And I think there’s a real danger there, because outside of the moments when action feels obvious, people don’t always know what to do with themselves. Here in Chicago, during [Operation] Midway Blitz, when our communities were under siege, there was an incredible outpouring of people getting involved, getting into the streets, getting trained, and resisting violence. And some people have continued doing amazing work. But some folks have also floundered a bit, trying to figure out: What do I do now? What do I do when the violence is not as pronounced, when it’s not happening in real time, right in front of me? And people are tired from the wear and tear of those months. That gets to something I really wanted to ask you about, which is how Trump’s terror at home wears people down. People are trying to protect their communities, protect their neighbors, survive raids and repression, respond to attacks on the people around them, and keep up with one crisis after another. That fear and exhaustion can shrink a person’s sense of what they can respond to, even as U.S. violence is escalating internationally. So how do we help people understand that these struggles are connected without minimizing the danger they’re facing here? **KPS:**Yeah. Man, I so appreciate every single thing you said, because it’s true. There are reasons to be inspired right now by, in particular, the kind of outpourings that we have seen of people refusing to accept ICE in their communities. It’s also quite remarkable that a majority of people actually oppose this war in Iran, which is profound in a way that I, for one, am still grappling with every day. And I think those of us in that majority that wants this war to end really have to grapple with what it means that we are the majority. And at the same time, yeah, it’s really something to see the normalization of this kind of violence in all kinds of ways. So one answer, I don’t have the answer to your question, but one answer to your question is, and I think that this is happening, people can and are expanding even their scope of not only what constitutes injustice for us to oppose, but also who our community is to stand up with. And so again, I’m thinking about that 2020 moment, the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and how so many people, again, in particular, so many folks who are not Black, experienced that time and really internalized like, “Oh, okay, this is what anti-Black racism looks like. And I fit into this somewhere and I need to not only… I’m going to show up at the protest when it happens, but I also need to interrogate what my relationship is to this kind of violence.” And I think about, I don’t know, there’s a kind of widening of that circle over time. And so again, folks for whom ICE may not have been on their radar, now understand something new and different, not only about what Trump is doing right now at ICE, but something about this country. It’s raising huge questions for folks. And again, folks are… I love the frame of, “I’m standing with my neighbor, I’m defending my neighbor, these are folks in our community.” And a big part of what I hope we do and I’m pushing for us to do is expand that notion of, who is your community? You know what I mean? I live in Boston and I don’t have to live in Minneapolis to be moved by what is happening in Minneapolis, and be compelled by what is happening in Minneapolis, and be invested in an end to the violence that this government carried out in Minneapolis. And that is also true for Palestine, that’s also true for Iran. You know what I mean? Those folks in those places are also part of our community, like folks in Sudan are also my neighbors. And so, it doesn’t mean that one has to dedicate their entire lives to ending every single injustice. I think that it makes sense that there are those of us who focus on certain things. I feel very invested in reproductive justice, but that’s not my day-to-day work. I am in solidarity with folks for whom it is their day-to-day work. I want to figure out how to show up when I can, right? And I think that we can take that approach to all of these different injustices and struggles for justice. And then I think that the role of organizers, for those of us who are organizers, is to figure out how to make that invitation. You know what I mean? How do we give the greatest possible invitation for folks to show up for justice for Palestine? To end the war in Iran? To end U.S. complicity and the complicity of U.S. allies in the violence in Sudan? That is on us as organizers to figure that out. **KH:**As you’re talking, I’m thinking about what you were saying about the movement for Black lives, and how that movement helped create a political context in which the murder of George Floyd was activating for so many people. People were able to understand that moment as part of a larger system of violence, and for many people, that created openings for political action and political change. And as you’re saying, that also broadened some people’s sense of solidarity, and their ability to see themselves in the people of Palestine. And I think, at our best, our political activation, our outrage, and our sense of what’s just and unjust broaden our sense of who our people are and who we are willing to defend. But there’s also that contraction I was talking about, where, when it feels like everything is going wrong at once, and everyone is under attack, our worldview can shrink to the size of our neighborhood, or to the size of the most immediate emergency. And we may lose sight of ourselves as part of a larger global struggle. So I think it’s really important for us to say: yes, defend your neighbors. Yes, protect each other. Yes, respond to the violence that is unfolding in front of you. And also, understand that work in opposition to the larger right-wing project. Because the right wing cannot realize its vision without mass death and human disposal: the mass death and disposal of Black and brown people, of people from countries and cultures they cast as inferior, of disabled people, of migrants, of poor people, of people they have marked as disposable. And we need to understand the rollback of vaccines and public health protections as part of that project. Early COVID-era deaths reduced Social Security liabilities by $156 billion. That’s a bunch of older people who were not rich, and a bunch of disabled people, dying in ways that saved the state money. And those are people the fascist right views as “useless eaters,” just draining away resources. They recognize the ability to shift and redistribute resources, as we might say, but on their terms. Their version of redistribution is abandonment, extraction, and death. So when we talk about the right-wing project, we have to be clear that, as Mariame Kaba and others have emphasized, this is an eliminationist project. And when we rally against it, we can’t be purely reactive. We can’t only organize against the direct, organized violence that’s unfolding in real time, when ICE agents attack our neighbors. We have to organize in defense of our lives, and our ability to exist, and not be abandoned, ground under, or left behind under any circumstances. And when we say, as you said, “I am defending my neighbors,” we have to keep expanding our sense of who belongs to us. We saw that in Chicago. We saw that in Minneapolis. I heard that again and again from folks on the ground in Minneapolis, that people felt they belonged to each other in a way they hadn’t before, and that this made them stronger. And here in Chicago, there was this deep sense of connection people suddenly felt to folks they mostly hadn’t met before, and to protecting and patrolling our schools, whether or not they had children in those schools. And when Bovino and his roving gangs moved to Minneapolis, we felt a kinship with the people there, too. Those are the kinds of social bonds we need to defend against the larger project that’s unfolding. Because fascism is a cultural project. It’s not just tactical or practical. It is a cultural project of dehumanization and disposal. So we need a cultural project of our own, rooted in a proliferating sense of empathy and solidarity. One that insists that we are all worth caring for and fighting for. And that has to happen at the cultural level, in the same way our dehumanization is happening at the cultural level. And it has to be backed up by tactical preparedness and a willingness to make practical interventions. **KPS:**Yeah. I mean, I completely agree. Not only… well, yeah, it’s everything that you said. It’s a kind of belief and understanding of who we belong to and who belongs to us. And then I think that when we get together, I mean, it’s the most basic, simple, and fundamental truth of organizing and solidarity, but it’s like we really are stronger and more powerful together. Right? Because yeah, when we’re looking at the myriad, just unreal injustices, the ICE raids, the war in Iran, the ongoing U.S. support for Israeli genocide in Palestine and Israeli war in Lebanon, the incredible level of inequality in our cities and in this country, yeah, no one of us can respond to all of that. It’s just not possible. But I think that when people in Chicago and in Minneapolis and in DC and LA were… I think what got folks out into the streets was, “I’m not going to let this happen to my neighbors and just sit by. I’m not going to let this happen without a fight.” But once folks left their houses and were in the streets, they discovered something else, which is just how powerful that collective is. And that’s really profound. So, I think that that’s pretty central to the answer of, how do we deal with this all? I think that what you said about developing and committing to frameworks that sees none of us as disposable and all of us as belonging, is just absolutely critical. And it is about practically breaking that isolation because the sort of tactics and strategy that the ruling elite, but the right wing in particular use, are very much ones of isolating us, making us feel isolated and alone. And that feels, they have a lot of tools to do that, more tools than ever maybe, with these devices that we all have and social media that our lives are all plugged into. And so, breaking out of that isolation is so important. And then it is creating that culture that you’re talking about as well. On one hand, I’m horrified by all of the ways that they are normalizing these violences, but I’m also so inspired and moved by the ways that we are normalizing solidarity. I just went to this really good music festival in Providence, Rhode Island, shout out Providence Popfest, it’s really good indie pop music. And you go to the merch table to buy records and tapes and shirts and tote bags, and there’s Palestine posters and Palestine totes too. And the proceeds go to folks in Palestine, and it’s just like, that was just part of the merch table. This wasn’t billed as a particularly political music festival, and yet there it was. You know? So, there are ways that we can… I mean, I think that there’s any number of ways that we need to kind of immediately respond to immediate attacks, whether that’s like an ICE raid or a U.S. invasion. And there are ways to build in resistance and solidarity into the kind of culture that we are working to create. [musical interlude] KH: Some of the most disturbing framing I’ve seen around Trump’s actions depicts him as corrupting an otherwise legitimate system, rather than Trump making a more visible and extreme use of a system that was already engaged in horrendous acts of violence. Can you talk about what we lose when we fail to challenge that approach? **KPS:**Yeah, this is such an important question. I mean, I think that we really have to see the rise of Trump itself as an indictment of the whole system. If this is a legitimate system, a democratic system, a thoughtful system, what kind of system allows somebody like Donald Trump to be the president and to wield the kind of power that he has? Answering that question is not just about looking at Donald Trump, it is about looking at everything that has been done to build up this system in the U.S., not only at its origins, but really recently. I mean, the way, for example, that he is waging war, the way that he is approving weapons to the Israeli military, to understand that, we have to appreciate the fact that the whole… I mean, again, there’s deep roots here, but let’s just look at the past 20 years. The war on terror, the post-9/11 wars has been a context for strengthening executive rule in this country and dismantling what democratic protections were put in place. It should be said, those were put in place not as part of some wisdom of our Founding Fathers or whatever, but movements fought for measures actually to put restraints on U.S. imperial power after the experience or through the experience of other horrendous abuses by the U.S. During the war in Vietnam, for example, right? That’s where we got actually a bunch of the rules that were then dismantled in the post-9/11 period. So, there’s a kind of ongoing project, an ongoing U.S. project to legitimize military violence. And again, that I would argue it’s in the DNA actually of this thing called the United States. And Donald Trump is taking its most crude and violent aspects and turning them up to the maximum. But I think that we cannot accept a kind of opposition on the basis that Trump is somehow doing it wrong, but the system is legitimate. I’ll just say that the way that the kind of criticisms that I’ve heard in the mainstream media and from elected officials about this war in Iran tends to fall in that vein. It’s the problem with this war is that there’s not a good plan for it, but it accepts the idea that Iran is this threat that has to be dealt with and has to be dealt with through U.S. violence, whether that’s the violence of sanctions or the violence of military force. And that’s actually a real problem. We have to interrogate and really dismantle that whole way of thinking and those systems of violence. **KH:**I really appreciate what you’re saying, because I think we are at great risk right now of imagining that, if we can get out from under this right-wing movement moment, the answer is simply to empower a more liberal, or a more polite, version of the neoliberal project that brought us here. It’s easy to gloss over the worst of what we were seeing prior to Trump 2.0, but we cannot treat these things as alternatives in a way that makes the harms of the Democratic Party seem acceptable by comparison. Because, as you’re saying, all of these things build upon each other. The repression of Stop Cop City empowered Trump 2.0. Democratic complicity with the genocide in Gaza empowered Trump 2.0. The worship of law enforcement, and the treatment of policing as the only answer to problems created by organized abandonment and the deprivation of life-giving services, empowered Trump 2.0. This whole thing delivered us to this moment. So we cannot just keep repaving the same path and pretend it won’t lead us back to authoritarian solutions. That trajectory existed under neoliberalism, just as it exists on the more openly fascistic road we’re on now. These are enmeshed political journeys. We cannot separate everything that was not specifically MAGA politics from this moment and say, “We just need to get back to that.” And I do see that kind of idealization happening. I saw some people recently saying that, when Democrats retake power, they don’t want to hear progressives making unreasonable demands, because Democratic leaders are not going to be handed a functioning government, and they’ll need years to rebuild before they can think about big progressive projects. And first of all, first of fucking all, why would the masses pivot toward you as an alternative if your political project is not actually grounded in making their lives better? That has to be foundational from jump. We only get out of this, we only win, by actually getting behind a politics that improves the lives of everyday people, that makes our lives more survivable, that makes things better for people. If that’s not there, then you do not have a political project that can get us beyond this moment. And the idea that we should make concessions to people who want us to accept that kind of abandonment is outrageous to me. Because we can never treat this government as innocent. It always builds upon the misdeeds of those who came before. It would be fucking fanciful to imagine that Democrats taking office after Trump would not take advantage of the powers and norms he leaves behind — more surveillance, more crackdowns on activists, more violations of civil liberties, more normalized militarism, more accommodation to the violence and white supremacy that are always coursing through government in this country, regardless of which party is in power. So we need a politics that exists in active opposition to all of those things, not just this iteration of those things. We are fighting fascism, and there will definitely be moments when we have to act alongside people whose only real point of alignment with us is, “not this.” But “not this” can’t be our whole agenda. Because “not this” is far too easily satisfied. It could leave us settling back into a condition where the ruling class is still systematically maintaining conditions that are making large swaths of the world uninhabitable, consolidating human beings into shrinking spaces of survival, boxing others out, and then, within those spaces where some of us are allowed to survive for a time, winnowing away our rights, our recourse, and our access to the means of survival. All of those mechanics will still be at work. So the only way we can be politically prepared for every stage of what’s ahead is by fighting for a politics of an expanding sense of “we,” fighting against organized abandonment, and demanding policies and ways of living that do not leave people behind. [musical transition] KH: I feel like all of this brings us to the question of whether we are looking at a new kind of U.S. war. What makes the current U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and Lebanon distinct from earlier chapters of the war on terror, including Iraq, Afghanistan, and the drone wars? And if this is a new kind of war, what kind of anti-war movement does it call for? What do we need to understand, connect, and do differently? KPS: Well, this question is precisely what I’ve been grappling with, because I do think that… I think of this as the U.S.’s first major 21st-century war. Obviously, the U.S. had wars in the 21st century. I mean, the wars that you named, the invasion of Afghanistan, the invasion of Iraq, the many post-9/11 military operations, those happened in the 21st century. But I think particularly those two large scale invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan actually had a lot in common with the U.S.’s approach to war in the ’90s, which was framed in terms of humanitarian interventions, there was some noble goal. Including the U.S., the 1991 invasion of Iraq, the formal justification for that was an intervention on behalf of Kuwait, which Iraq had invaded. And so, this was supposed to be, or this was framed as the United States standing up for a defenseless country. That is not the framing that they are using now at all. I mean, you think about the post-9/11 invasion of Afghanistan, for example, where not only George W. Bush, but people like Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright talked about an invasion that was on behalf of Afghan women to save them from Afghan men. There’s this kind of white savior, very Islamophobic notion that was very messed up and violent, but the framing was a noble purpose. They have shed that entirely with this attack, this U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran. The way [Defense Secretary] Pete Hegseth talks about this, we’re kicking them while they’re down. I mean, I won’t repeat his incredibly violent language, but there’s no real sense that this is on behalf of a sort of noble or humanitarian goal. Trump will mention, “People of Iran, you should rise up.” But that’s a throwaway line, it’s not really the framing of this war. Then the warfare is also different. The kind of paradigm of the ’90s and post-9/11 wars was smart bombs, this kind of rhetoric and technology was debuted at full scale during the ’91 invasion of Iraq. We have smart bombs with which we do precision strikes or surgical strikes, this notion that the United States is surgically identifying the “bad guys” and sparing innocent civilians. And that if innocent civilians get hurt, then that is collateral damage. That entire framework is from a different time. They don’t care. It’s not that they just don’t care, because I don’t think that previous people running the Pentagon or the White House cared. But they don’t pretend to care, they don’t even go through the motions of having a concern for the life of ordinary Iranians, let alone folks in Lebanon or Palestine or elsewhere in this region who are increasingly being tied up in this war. So, it’s quite different. The kind of legality and the role that the legal approach played in previous wars versus now is profoundly different. When the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, the George W. Bush Administration was compelled to make the case to the United Nations that a U.S. invasion was justified, according to international law. The United Nations did not approve of the war and the U.S. invaded anyway, which I think that decision itself was actually a turning point that led us down the road that we’re now on, but it’s not just they weren’t compelled to go to the UN. It’s that the UN has been a non-factor in the calculations, not only of the Trump administration, but also of the Democrats and the critics of this war too. They didn’t even feel compelled to go to Congress the way they did when they invaded Iraq. There was no presidential address to the nation. They didn’t feel compelled to make a huge push to manufacture consent among the U.S. population. Trump has largely just spoken to his base through his personal social media accounts. So in many ways, this is quite different, and it means that our approach has to be really different. Like when in February 2003, on the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, there was a massive mobilization that happened in cities in this country and all around the world under the banner of “The world says no to war.” And part of that mobilization was an appeal to and a reference to in alignment with the UN and international law. That the hope would be obstacles, would act as obstacles to that U.S. invasion. But when it’s so clear that they were not obstacles at all, that requires a different approach on the part of our movement organizing. So, I think that we’re still figuring out what a 21st century anti-war movement looks like, but there are two things that feel straightforward to me that have to be focuses of ours. One is the funding, and not only funding of this war in particular, but of the whole Pentagon budget. I’ve spoken throughout our conversation about this being a time of revelation. The U.S. war budget passes every year and military budget, it passes every year without much of a public conversation, really. And now I think it has been revealed to Americans what that money actually goes to. This is what it goes to, it goes to bombing schools in Minab, in Iran. It goes to developing weapons that are used against Palestinians in an Israeli genocide. It goes to developing weapons that are used against folks
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Iran said to be allowing Chinese vessels through the Strait of Hormuz. Vessel seized near Fujairah. Indian vessel reportedly sunk off the coast of Oman. UAE comes under scrutiny for ties with Israel, conduct during the war. Saudi warplanes struck Iran-allied militia targets in Iraq, report says. Classified CIA analysis finds Gulf allies split on support for the Iran war. Israel continues to bombard Lebanon on Thursday. Israeli attacks kill at least 15 across Lebanon on Wednesday. UNICEF: At least 59 child casualties in Lebanon in the past week. Lebanon files formal UN complaint against Iran. Israeli attacks in Jabalia. Gaza Envoy Nickolay Mladenov outlines reconstruction framework, blames Hamas for deadlock. Israel escalates Gaza attacks by 35% in April. Israeli firms developed technology to track and identify Starlink users worldwide, Haaretz finds. Israel threatens to sue New York Times over Kristof article documenting sexual violence against Palestinians. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping open Beijing summit with friendly overtures. Trump claims joint agreement on Iran nuclear weapons and Hormuz. Senate blocks Iran war powers resolution 49–50 in closest vote yet. U.S. Army scrambles to cut training amid $4-6 billion budget shortfall. Trump administration withholds $1.3 billion in Medicaid payments to California. Three southern states set to change their congressional maps. Federal judge suspends sanctions against UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese. ICE contractors donated $1.7 million to 168 members of Congress, with Palantir executives giving more to Democrats than Republicans. Cuba is completely out of diesel and fuel oil. At least 61 killed in South Kordofan, according to Sudan Doctors Network. Russia strikes Kyiv with drones and missiles. Gunshots at Philippine Senate as police move to arrest senator. French authorities investigate Israeli firm BlackCore over alleged disinformation campaign targeting left-wing candidates. Maldives jails two journalists for reporting on president’s affair. SDF commander reveals planned trip to Ankara and possible meeting with Kurdistan Workers Party leader Abdullah Ocalan. Brazilian markets tumble as report links presidential contender Flávio Bolsonaro to jailed banker. FROM DROP SITE: Somali pirates demand $10 million ransom for oil tanker hijacked off Yemen coast amid Hormuz disruptions. Drop Site is now live on WhatsApp. Get our latest reporting, podcasts, and breaking news, delivered directly. Join the channel here. 🛒 Get your Drop News Not Bombs Hoodie here. This is Drop Site Daily, our free daily news recap. We send it Monday through Friday. Today’s edition is being sent to more than 750,000 subscribers. Help us grow that number by forwarding and recommending this newsletter. Subscribe now Chinese President Xi Jinping makes a toast as he hosts a state banquet for U.S. President Donald Trump at the Great Hall of the People on May 14, 2026 in Beijing, China. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images. Iran and Ceasefire Iran said to be allowing Chinese vessels through the Strait of Hormuz: Iran has reportedly begun allowing Chinese vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz based on the two countries’ “deep relations” and “strategic partnership,” an unnamed informed source told the semi-official Fars News Agency. The report follows shipping data showing several China-linked cargo ships and tankers, including the Yuan Hua Hu crude carrier, transiting the strait on Wednesday. About 30 vessels have crossed the Strait of Hormuz with Iranian authorization since Wednesday evening, according to the state broadcaster IRIB. At a BRICS meeting in India, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, “In our view, the strait of Hormuz is open to all commercial ships, but they must cooperate with our naval forces.” Vessel seized near Fujairah, Indian vessel reportedly sunk off the coast of Oman: The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre said Wednesday it received a report of a vessel being seized by unauthorized personnel while anchored roughly 38 nautical miles from the UAE’s Fujairah. The vessel is now heading toward Iranian territorial waters, according to UKMTO. Separately, an Indian flagged vessel, the MSV Haj Ali, was reportedly sunk off the coast of Oman, according to the maritime security company Vanguard. The vessel, which was transporting livestock from Somalia to the UAE, was subject to an explosion “believed to have been caused by a drone or missile strike.” Its 14 crew members were forced by the explosion to abandon ship. UAE comes under scrutiny for ties with Israel, conduct during the war: The Israeli prime minister’s office announced Wednesday that Benjamin Netanyahu had secretly visited the United Arab Emirates during the Iran war and met with Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed in what it called a “historic breakthrough in relations.” The UAE Foreign Ministry rejected the claim minutes later, saying it “denies what is being circulated regarding a visit by the Israeli Prime Minister or the reception of an Israeli military delegation.” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a social media post that “Netanyahu has now publicly revealed what Iran’s security services long ago conveyed to our leadership” and warned that “those colluding with Israel to sow division will be held to account.” At a BRICS meeting Thursday morning in New Delhi, Aragchi went further, accusing the UAE of being “directly involved in the act of aggression against my country” and of allowing “their territory to be used to fire artillery and equipment against us.” Directly addressing the country, Araghi said that its “alliance with the Israelis did not protect it” and urged it to “reconsider” its policy towards Iran. Saudi warplanes struck Iran-allied militia targets in Iraq, report says: Saudi Air Force fighter jets bombed Iran-linked militia sites near the kingdom’s northern border with Iraq during the Iran War, targeting launch points used to fire drones and missiles at Gulf states, according to a Reuters report published Wednesday. Separately, rockets fired from Kuwaiti territory struck militia positions in southern Iraq in April, killing several fighters and destroying a Kataib Hezbollah communications and drone facility—though Reuters could not confirm whether the strikes were carried out by Kuwait’s armed forces or the U.S. military, which maintains a large presence in the country. Iran calls Kuwait’s detention of four Iranians “illegal”: Iran accused Kuwait of trying to “sow discord” by detaining four Iranians. On Tuesday, Kuwait said four men were detained, accusing them of being Revolutionary Guard operatives, and two escaped while trying to infiltrate Bubiyan Island in the northwest corner of the Persian Gulf on May 1. “In clear attempt to sow discord, Kuwait has unlawfully attacked an Iranian boat and detained 4 of our citizens in the Persian Gulf,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a social media post. “This illegal act took place near island used by the U.S. to attack Iran. We demand immediate release of our nationals and reserve right to respond.” Classified CIA analysis finds Gulf allies split on support for the Iran war: A classified CIA analysis circulating this week found that Washington’s Gulf allies are divided over how much military support to provide for the Trump administration’s war against Iran, sources familiar with the assessment told Capital & Empire. The UAE and Bahrain favor continued U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, while Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait support negotiations, and Oman opposes the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports and may be open to joint administration of the Strait of Hormuz with Iran. Saudi Arabia has also moved to constrain U.S. military options by denying access, basing, and overflight rights for “Project Freedom”—the planned U.S. naval operation to guide commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz—despite a personal appeal from President Donald Trump to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. More on this report from Aida Chavez at Capital & Empire, here. Lebanon Israel continues to bombard Lebanon on Thursday: An Israeli airstrike on a residential building at dawn on Thursday killed two people in Ezzedine, the National News Agency reported, and destroyed the building entirely. A drone attack reportedly wounded one near Zrariyeh, and Israeli strikes also targeted Lebbaya Yohmor, and Sohmor in the western part of the Bekaa, and Hadatha in Bint Jbeil, with another strike wounding at least three in Kfar Melki. Hezbollah drone strike wounds three Israelis near border: A drone launched by Hezbollah struck the parking lot of the Rosh Hanikra grottoes near the Lebanese-Israeli border on Thursday, injuring three Israelis, according to the Israeli military via Ynet. One person was reported to be in critical condition and another seriously wounded. Israeli attacks kill at least 15 across Lebanon on Wednesday: Israeli attacks killed at least 15 people, including two children, across Lebanon on Wednesday, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.Strikes were also reported in Al-Halousiyeh, Siddiqin, Arabsalim, Kafra in Bint Jbeil, Tibnin, and Rihane, with some reported near schools and hospitals. The Israeli military additionally issued forced displacement orders for six southern villages and warned that anyone remaining “endangers their life.” UNICEF: At least 59 child casualties in Lebanon in the past week: UNICEF issued a statement on Thursday on the impact of Israel’s attacks in Lebanon on children, with at least 59 children killed or injured in the country in the last week alone, and 23 children killed and 93 injured since a ceasefire was agreed to. UNICEF also warned that more than 770,000 children in Lebanon are at risk of developing chronic mental health issues due to “heightened distress from repeated exposure to violence, loss and displacement.” The group’s regional director said, “Children are being killed and injured when they should be returning to classrooms, playing with friends, and recovering from months of fear and upheaval.” Lebanon files formal UN complaint against Iran: The Lebanese government submitted a formal complaint to the United Nations against Iran late last month accusing Tehran of making inaccurate statements regarding the killing of four Iranians in an Israeli strike on the Ramada Hotel in Beirut on March 8, and alleging that some of those killed were not officially registered as diplomats but were in fact Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders operating under diplomatic cover in violation of Lebanese sovereignty. In a letter outlining the complaint made public on Wednesday, Lebanese ambassador to the UN Ahmad Arafa accused Tehran of “dragging” the country into a war it did not choose. It also accused the Iranians of ignoring an order by the Lebanese Foreign Ministry to expel its ambassador, Mohammed Reza Sheibani. Palestine Casualty count: Over the last 24 hours, two Palestinians were killed—one due to wounds sustained in earlier attacks and another whose body was recovered from under the rubble—and 24 were injured across Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,744 killed, with 172,588 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 857 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 2,486, while 771 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Israeli attacks in Gaza City and Jabalia: An Israeli quadcopter drone dropped a bomb on Old Gaza Street in Jabalia on Thursday morning, killing one Palestinian, according to WAFA. Another Palestinian was killed by Israeli army sniper fire near an UNRWA clinic in Jabalia Camp. Israeli forces also shot and wounded several others near the Bani Suheila roundabout east of Khan Younis. Israeli settlers burn farmland in al-Mughayyir: Israeli settlers set fire Wednesday night to agricultural land in the plain of al-Mughayyir village, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, while Israeli forces who stormed the village fired illumination bombs and tear gas at Palestinian homes as residents tried to confront the attackers and extinguish the blaze, according to WAFA. Mladenov outlines reconstruction framework, blames Hamas for deadlock: Nickolay Mladenov, the “Board of Peace” envoy overseeing the U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire framework, addressed journalists in Jerusalem Wednesday after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mladenov said that the ceasefire is “far from perfect,” with daily violations continuing to kill civilians, but said truck deliveries into Gaza have risen from 1,300 to over 4,000 per week—figures all aid agencies on the ground dispute, saying less than 40% of the aid promised under the ceasefire is entering. Mladenov also blamed Hamas for the present deadlock, particularly its refusal to disarm. He said a 15-point implementation roadmap has been presented to Hamas twice in Cairo, and accused the group of “consolidating its grip” on Gaza’s population and of blocking approved contractors from building shelter in the Strip, neither of which he substantiated with evidence. Hamas has repeatedly said it will not discuss Phase 2 of the plan, including disarmament, until Israel fulfills its Phase 1 obligations: halting strikes and killings, allowing sufficient aid and movement through Rafah and initial rehabilitation. Board of Peace preparing “plan B” for Gaza reconstruction: The U.S.-led Board of Peace is preparing a contingency plan to begin implementing President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza framework in areas under Israeli control after disarmament negotiations have reached a deadlock, Axios reported on Wednesday. The proposal would move the Palestinian technocratic government from Cairo into Israeli-controlled parts of Gaza, launch reconstruction projects, deploy an International Stabilization Force, and train the new Palestinian police force in Egypt—though Board of Peace officials acknowledged the risk of creating “two Gazas.” Israel escalates Gaza attacks by 35%: Israel has drastically escalated its attacks on Gaza in the five weeks since halting its joint bombing campaign against Iran, carrying out 35% more strikes in April than in March, according to conflict monitor ACLED. Gaza’s Ministry of Health recorded 120 Palestinians killed—including eight women and 13 children—since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran halted on April 8, a 20% increase compared with the five weeks prior when Israel was striking Iran. Israeli firms developed technology to track and identify Starlink users worldwide, Haaretz finds: Two Israeli-linked companies have developed systems capable of locating Starlink satellite terminals globally and, in some cases, identifying the people behind the accounts, using “data fusion” techniques that combine large volumes of digital and geolocation data rather than directly hacking the network, according to an investigation published by Haaretz. One previously unknown firm, TargetTeam, reportedly operates from Cyprus and has built a system called “Stargetz” that can monitor nearly one million Starlink terminals worldwide and de-anonymize around 200,000 of them; a second company, Rayzone, sells similar capabilities as part of a broader intelligence suite overseen by the Israeli defense ministry. Amnesty International’s Security Lab warned the technology posed serious risks to journalists, activists, and civilians in conflict zones, noting that Starlink has become a critical communications lifeline for Ukrainian forces and aid workers in Gaza. Israeli residents say IDF deleted portions of their October 7 security footage: Residents of Kibbutz Be’eri say a classified Israel Defense Forces reserve unit composed of veterans from elite units seized their security camera recordings on October 9, 2023, then returned the materials with portions allegedly deleted, according to a report from Israel Hayom published on Thursday. “The decisions to delete materials were made ‘under fluorescent lights’—it’s a conscious decision, not one made in the chaos of combat,” one Be’eri source told the outlet, adding ominously that “the fewer witnesses there are [for a prospective investigative commission], the less damage certain people in the military will sustain.” Israel threatens to sue New York Times over Kristof article documenting sexual violence against Palestinians: Israel threatened to file a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times over an article in the Opinion section by columnist Nicholas Kristof documenting widespread and systematic sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees by Israeli forces. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the article “one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press,” in a joint statement on Thursday. Israel’s use of sexual violence against Palestinians has been previously been documented by the United Nations and several international human rights organizations. U.S. News By Julian Andreone, with Ryan Grim. Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email Andreone at [email protected]. Trump and Xi open Beijing summit with friendly overtures, Trump claims joint agreement on Iran nuclear weapons and Hormuz: President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping opened two days of high-stakes meetings in Beijing on Thursday with warm personal exchanges and vows to deepen trade ties, with Trump praising Xi as a “great leader” and Xi calling for the two countries to be “partners rather than rivals.” Xi warned Trump privately that Taiwan remains the most important issue between the two countries and that if handled poorly could push the relationship into “a very dangerous situation,” according to Chinese state media. Trump is reportedly seeking Xi’s help in pressuring Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and abandon its nuclear program. “The two sides agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to support the free flow of energy,” the White House said in a readout. “President Xi also made clear China’s opposition to the militarization of the Strait and any effort to charge a toll for its use, and he expressed interest in purchasing more American oil to reduce China’s dependence on the Strait in the future. Both countries agreed that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.” Beijing’s own readout did not confirm any of the comments. Senate blocks Iran war powers resolution 49–50 in closest vote yet: The Senate voted 49–50 on Tuesday to block a War Powers Resolution on the Iran war introduced by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the seventh failed attempt to advance limits on President Donald Trump’s campaign against Iran since the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran on February 28. The vote was the closest yet and the first procedural test since the War Powers Act’s 60-day deadline expired on May 1. Three Republicans broke with their party to support the measure—Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Ala.), Susan Collins (Maine), and Rand Paul (Ky.)—while Sen. John Fetterman (Pa.) was the sole Democrat to vote against it. Democratic leadership said it plans to continue forcing weekly war powers votes to sustain pressure on the conflict. House Democrats will force vote on Ukraine aid and Russia sanctions: House Democrats secured the 218 signatures needed Wednesday to bypass Speaker Mike Johnson and force a floor vote on a package imposing new sanctions on Russia and authorizing $1.3 billion in military aid and up to $8 billion in loans for Ukraine. The petition, introduced by House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Rep. Greg Meeks (N.Y.), was signed by all 215 House Democrats along with Republican Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Don Bacon (Neb.), and Kevin Kiley (Calif.), who provided the deciding signature. The vote is expected after Memorial Day but faces long odds in the GOP-controlled Senate and White House. U.S. Army scrambles to cut training amid $4-6 billion budget shortfall: The U.S. Army is grappling with a sudden budget shortfall of $4 billion to $6 billion and has begun slashing training across the force, canceling elite schools and unit-level exercises months before the fiscal year ends September 30, according to internal documents reviewed by ABC News. Major cost drivers include the Iran war, an expanding southern border mission, a National Guard deployment in Washington that alone is projected to cost roughly $1.1 billion this year, and ballooning personnel expenses from covering Department of Homeland Security funding lapses. The III Armored Corps—commanding some 70,000 soldiers representing nearly half of the Army’s combat power—is expected to absorb much of the cuts, with internal documents warning that its aviation units will deploy next year at “a lower state of readiness” and that it will take a full year to rebuild “combat proficiency” after pilot flight hours are slashed to mandatory minimums. Trump administration withholds $1.3 billion in Medicaid payments to California: Vice President JD Vance announced Wednesday that the Trump administration is suspending $1.3 billion in Medicaid payments to California and threatening to freeze federal funds to all 50 states if they fail to prosecute Medicaid fraud aggressively. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Mehmet Oz said California’s records had generated “major red flags,” citing $630 million in disputed billing, $500 million in home health services, and $200 million in expenditures linked to coverage for undocumented immigrants. The administration also announced that it is imposing a six-month moratorium on new Medicare enrollment for hospices and home health agencies. Three southern states set to change their congressional maps: Louisiana Senate Republicans voted early Wednesday to advance a new congressional map that would give the GOP a fifth House seat in the state, shifting the current 4-2 Republican-Democratic delegation to a 5-1 split, following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais that struck down the state’s previous lines as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The sole remaining Democratic district largely preserves the New Orleans-area seat held by Rep. Troy Carter, but it also stretches into Baton Rouge, where Rep. Cleo Fields currently represents a separate majority-Black district, potentially setting up a member-versus-member primary contest. The map still requires a full Senate vote and House approval. South Carolina Republican Gov. Henry McMaster is expected to announce a special session on redistricting that would allow the GOP-controlled legislature to dismantle the district of Rep. Jim Clyburn—the state’s sole Democratic House member—leaving South Carolina with a likely 7-0 Republican congressional delegation, Politico reported on Wednesday. The move is a reversal of McMaster’s earlier position and follows direct pressure from President Donald Trump and his allies to redistrict the state. Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed a proclamation on Wednesday convening the state legislature for a special session on June 17 to redraw congressional and state legislative maps ahead of the 2028 election cycle. “It’s clear that Callais requires Georgia to adopt new electoral maps before the 2028 election cycle,” Kemp said in response to the Supreme Court’s decision. Twenty House Democrats demand suspension of joint U.S.-Ecuador military operations: Twenty House Democrats sent a letter Wednesday to War Secretary Pete Hegseth demanding the immediate suspension of joint U.S.-Ecuador military operations and a full legal accounting of previous operations, citing reporting that U.S.-backed forces bombed a civilian cattle farm in northern Ecuador with no known links to drug trafficking. The letter also points to evidence that residents of the farm were interrogated, beaten, had their homes burned, and were subjected to torture before the aerial bombardment. The letter points out that the operations were never authorized by Congress, and that the operations may have violated the Leahy Law, which bars aid to foreign militaries credibly accused of human rights violations. Signatories include Reps. Jesús “Chuy” García (Ill.), Greg Casar (Texas), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), Ro Khanna (Calif.), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), and Pramila Jayapal (Wash.). Federal judge suspends sanctions against UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese: A U.S. federal judge temporarily blocked sanctions imposed by the Trump administration against United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese on Wednesday. The sanctions, which barred Albanese from entering the U.S. and restricted her access to banking, were announced in July 2025 after Albanese publicly criticized Washington’s policy on Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza. Albanese’s husband and daughter—a U.S. citizen—filed the lawsuit in February against the Trump administration over the sanctions. In his court order on Wednesday granting a preliminary injunction against the sanctions, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon wrote, “Albanese has done nothing more than speak.” Albanese had recommended that the International Criminal Court (ICC) pursue war crimes prosecutions against Israeli and U.S. nationals. “It is undisputed that her recommendations have no binding effect on the ICC’s actions—they are nothing more than her opinion.” He added, “Protecting the freedom of speech is ‘always’ in the public interest.” Drug industry pushes unreliable blood tests and dangerous medication for Alzheimer’s: A new investigation from the Lever finds that the campaign to expand FDA-cleared Alzheimer’s blood tests to cognitively healthy Americans is being driven largely by pharmaceutical companies and industry-funded advocates with undisclosed financial conflicts—including former CDC Director Robert Redfield, who collected $638,000 from test manufacturer Roche while publishing op-eds urging widespread screening. Independent experts warn the tests are unreliable as screening tools—only 18% of cognitively normal people who test positive develop dementia within ten years—while the anti-amyloid drugs patients are funneled toward, including Eli Lilly’s Kisunla, cause brain swelling and hemorrhages in more than a third of trial participants, with researchers finding “little to no” correlation between amyloid reduction and cognitive benefit. If bipartisan legislation to have these tests covered by Medicare passes, the eligible treatment market would expand from 592,000 to an estimated 47 million Americans. Read more about the drug industry’s influence campaign and ties to lawmakers and major nonprofits in The Lever’s full report, available here. ICE contractors donated $1.7 million to 168 members of Congress, with Palantir executives giving more to Democrats than Republicans: Executives at ICE’s biggest contractors donated more than $1.7 million to 168 members of Congress across the 2022, 2024, and 2026 election cycles, with Palantir alone accounting for over $1.3 million, according to a report from The Appeal. Palantir’s executives, the report also found, donated roughly twice as much to Democrats as to Republicans. Private prison companies GEO Group and CoreCivic directed nearly all of their roughly $675,000 in PAC donations to Republicans; only Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) received donations from the executives of these companies. Several Democrats who have publicly opposed the Trump administration’s deportation agenda, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) and Reps. Josh Riley (N.Y.), Maggie Goodlander (N.H.), Pete Aguilar (Ca.), and Sen. Ruben Gallego (Ariz.) received Palantir contributions. More on these donations can be found at In These Times, here. Other International News Somali pirates demand $10 million ransom for oil tanker hijacked off Yemen coast amid Hormuz disruptions: Somali pirates are demanding $10 million for the release of the oil tanker MT Eureka, seized on May 2 near the Yemeni port of Qana and now anchored off the Somali fishing town of Bander Beyla with roughly 30 armed pirates and 12 crew members—including eight Egyptians—on board. The hijacking is the second in ten days and is part of a broader resurgence of Somali piracy fueled in part by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has rerouted international maritime traffic through the Red Sea and past Somali waters. The MT Eureka, owned by a UAE-based shipping company and carrying 20,400 barrels of diesel, had departed the Emirati port of Fujairah before it was taken. Mohamed Gabobe’s full piece for Drop Site on the ransom negotiations is available here. Cuba is completely out of diesel and fuel oil: Cuba has completely exhausted its diesel and fuel oil reserves, Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy announced Wednesday on state media, prompting protests across the capital on Wednesday evening. Some districts in the capital are without light for 20 to 22 hours a day, the minister added in his announcement. Neither Mexico nor Venezuela, once top suppliers, have sent fuel to the island since President Donald Trump’s January 2026 executive order threatening tariffs on any country shipping fuel to Cuba. The United Nations last week called the fuel blockade unlawful, saying it had obstructed “the Cuban people’s right to development while undermining their rights to food, education, health, and water and sanitation.” Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. State Department announced that it was offering $100 million in humanitarian aid for Cuba to be distributed through the Catholic Church and other independent organizations rather than the Cuban state, while accusing the Cuban government of blocking the offer and earlier U.S. assistance proposals. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also reaffirmed a standing U.S. offer of free satellite internet access to Cuba, which reports have suggested would be provided by Elon Musk’s Starlink. Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla said the public offer was the first time Cuban authorities had heard about the assistance and expressed the country’s willingness to hear the details of the proposal but insisted that the best aid would be an end to the hardened blockade. At least 61 killed in South Kordofan, according to Sudan Doctors Network: At least 61 people—including nine children and five women—were killed in clashes between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North and the Atoro tribe in Kauda, South Kordofan, the Sudan Doctors Network reported Wednesday. The SPLM-N acknowledged launching attacks on May 8, framing them as a pursuit of “rebels” following a dispute between the Atoro and Shaway tribes over their tribal boundary markers. Survivor testimonies indicate that the SPLM-N directly and indiscriminately targeted civilians. SPLM-N forces are also accused of extrajudicial killings, slaughter, burning of homes and shops, and widespread looting in the region on Wednesday, with villages around Kauda subjected to systematic burning. Russia strikes Kyiv with drones and missiles: Russia attacked Kyiv with drones and missiles early Thursday, killing at least three people and injuring 40 others, including two children, Reuters reported. Damage was reported across at least 20 locations within and in the vicinity of the city, including a fire in a 12-story apartment block in a northern suburb. Russia places former British Defense Minister on wanted list on terrorism-related charges: Russia’s Interior Ministry has placed former British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace on its wanted list in connection with an unspecified criminal investigation, with an unnamed law enforcement source cited by state news agency TASS linking the charges to terrorism, Al Jazeera reported Wednesday. Wallace served as defense minister from 2019 until August 2023 and has continued to advocate military support for Ukraine, including publicly calling in October 2025 for strikes on the bridge linking southern Russia to Crimea. Gunshots at Philippine Senate as police move to arrest senator: Gunshots were fired at the Philippine Senate on Wednesday evening as police and marines moved to arrest Sen. Ronald dela Rosa—former national police chief and top enforcer of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war—who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on suspicion of crimes against humanity, Al Jazeera reported. Dela Rosa had earlier urged supporters to come to the legislature to prevent his transfer to The Hague, where Duterte is already awaiting trial following his arrest last year. French authorities investigate Israeli firm BlackCore over alleged disinformation campaign targeting left-wing candidates: French intelligence agencies are investigating whether an obscure Israeli firm called BlackCore carried out a foreign interference campaign targeting three La France Insoumise candidates ahead of March’s municipal elections. The firm reportedly designed deceptive websites, fake social media accounts alleging criminal behavior, and disparaging digital ads against candidates in Marseille, Toulouse, and Roubaix, Reuters reported Wednesday. BlackCore’s website and LinkedIn page, where it described itself as “an elite influence, cyber, and technology company built for the modern era of information warfare,” were taken offline after Reuters sought comment. Maldives jails two journalists for reporting on president’s affair: Two journalists from the Maldivian news website Adhadhu—Mohamed Shahzan and Leevan Ali Nasir—were jailed on Tuesday for violating a court-ordered gag order and reporting on a documentary alleging the country’s president, Mohamed Muizzu, had an affair with a former aide. Their trials were conducted in secret and concluded within hours, with the journalists given just two hours to find legal counsel and no opportunity to present a defense. Two Adhadhu editors additionally face charges of “qazf”—the false accusation of adultery under Islamic law, carrying up to 80 lashes—with their trial opening behind closed doors Wednesday. The International Federation of Journalists and the Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the arrests as a “punitive attempt to criminalise investigative journalism.” SDF commander reveals planned trip to Ankara and possible meeting with Ocalan: Syrian Democratic Forces commander-in-chief Mazlum Kobane revealed in a Wednesday interview with Al Monitor that he is planning a trip to Ankara, and that a meeting with imprisoned Kurdistan Workers Party leader Abdullah Ocalan may be on that trip’s agenda. He also addressed the integration of the Kurds into the Syrian state, saying that four of his SDF-staffed military brigades are now formally recognized as part of the Syrian army, that roughly 50,000 autonomous administration employees are set to retain their positions and receive state salaries, and agreement is near on recognition of Kurdish school diplomas. Kobane criticized the United States for unexpectedly pivoting toward Damascus and not standing with its former allies, and said that additional funding for the SDF from the U.S. remains “under discussion.” Ghana to evacuate 300 citizens from South Africa amid wave of xenophobic attacks on migrants: Ghana will evacuate 300 citizens from South Africa following a wave of xenophobic attacks targeting migrants from other sub-Saharan African countries, Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa announced Wednesday. South African authorities have condemned the violence and vowed to crack down on attacks on immigrants. Kenya, Malawi, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe have also warned their citizens in South Africa to exercise caution and stay indoors. Brazilian markets tumble as report links presidential contender Flávio Bolsonaro to jailed banker: Brazilian financial markets fell sharply on Wednesday after the Intercept Brasil reported that Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, a leading presidential contender, had negotiated a $24 million deal with jailed banker Daniel Vorcaro to finance a film about his father. Vorcaro—who was arrested in March on bribery charges—was the owner of the failed Banco Master, which was ordered liquidated in November by the country’s central bank. The real fell more than 2%, and the Bovespa stock index closed 1.8% lower than the previous day. Bolsonaro has been polling roughly even with current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ahead of October’s election. If you want to continue getting this newsletter, you don’t have to do anything. But if this is too much—we do try to be mindful of your inbox—you can unsubscribe from this newsletter while continuing to get the rest of our reporting. Just go into your account here at this link, scroll down, and toggle the button next to “Drop Site Daily” to the off setting. It looks like this: Subscribe now Leave a comment From Drop Site News via This RSS Feed.
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For over a week, Malik Muhammed effectively vanished inside the prison system. No answers. No confirmation. Just a string of contradictions from the Oregon Department of Corrections and affiliated facilities, claims that they were “at court,” moved to a “confidential location,” or simply no longer there. (…) Malik was only located after they were able to send a letter. They are now being held nearly 3,000 miles away at the Kirkland Reception and Evaluation Center, an intake facility inside South Carolina’s prison system. Moving someone from one state prison system to another across the country is rare. Doing so while refusing to disclose their location, and cutting them off from legal counsel and community support, signals something else entirely: escalation. Alissa Azar, April 7th, 2026 Malik Muhammad, portrait WHO IS MALIK MUHAMMED? Malik Muhammed is a Queer, Black, and Palestinian Radical Anarchist from Chicago, Illinois. They have a beautiful son and family back home in the midwest. Their first memory of rebellion was refusing to stand for, or say, the pledge of allegiance; their first protest was after the murder of Trayvon Martin. They travelled across the country, ending up in portland, oregon. Malik was one of many Black Anarchists part of the 2020 popular uprising, organizing and fighting ameriKKKan oppression. When local and national militias attacked, Malik allegedly resisted using DIY munitions. “I believe it was a week or so before George Floyd was murdered, and a kid named Dreasjon Reed in Indianapolis was shot dead by some pigs… Then I saw the video of George Floyd, and I heard that ‘I can’t breathe’ again… I was literally hearing it again… it was so visceral, because that was a situation I was in, being choked to death and beaten by pigs… I knew that I needed to do something.” Malik Muhammed, August 17, 2025. They were subsequently taken political prisoner in an act of repression, violently isolating them from the movement and society both through imprisonment and state propaganda. Originally, ameriKKKan prosecutors told Malik’s legal team that their case would remain in oregon state, but Biden’s Attorney General, Merrick Garland, urged the federal government to bring Malik’s case to the federal level to set an example across ameriKKKa. Neo-liberal media quickly followed suit, painting Malik as an outsider and alienating them from others in the uprising, despite the fact that they were resisting their own oppression. They were charged on both the state and federal level with two 10 year sentences, to be served concurrently, the longest of any political prisoner captured during the 2020 uprisings. “They wanted to appear as hard on left-wing extremists as they were on right-wing extremists… And it’s interesting, because now all those January 6 rioters are free.” Malik Muhammed, August 17, 2025. After incarcerating them, the ameriKKKan prison system has continuously transferred Malik and thrown them in the hole, numerous times. Malik spent most of 2025 in solitary confinement at snake river “corrections” Institution (SRCI) before being trafficked to eastern Oregon “corrections” Institution (EOCI). Just as the prison violently isolates people from society, the prison isolates prisoners from each other through solitary confinement, also known as the hole. Solitary is a torture practice. Prolonged sensory deprivation, social isolation, and restricted movement, like prison, is disabling. It is a severe form of psychological and physical abuse. It’s also a huge part of the prison’s systematic repression. By intentionally isolating political prisoners, the prison makes it harder for those who have organizing skills to share them, while also deteriorating mentally and physically under constant torture. “Investigations can keep you in the hole for 180 days, like I said, without even a charge. Then even when you’re in IMU, that 180-day minimum can go up to 36 months and indefinite if they just 'don’t know what to do with you.’” Malik Muhammed, August 17, 2025. Cover art of “Blood in my Eye”, and “Open Veins of Latin America” On March 2nd, 2026, eastern oregon “correctional” institution declared Malik a security threat and threw them in solitary confinement after they publicized EOCI’s anti-Muslim abuse and neglect during Ramadan. They were accused of racketeering for inviting fellow prisoners to study political books: Blood in My Eye by George Jackson, and Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano. There is no other way to put it: this scared ODOC. ODOC created a fictitious reason to put me in the hole, then created an in-house RICO charge because the other wouldn’t stick. They painted the blog and fundraiser as racketeering and spreading propaganda. The DR [disciplinary report] (I wish I still had it) was as ridiculous as the RICO charge on the Stop Cop City siblings. They wrote it in such a way to convince their superiors I was a threat to be sent away. Malik Muhammed, April 22nd 2026 The ameriKKKan prison system subsequently interstate compact transferred them 2,500 miles to south carolina on March 30th, 2026, to: Isolate them from their support network, inside and out. Weaken avenues for pressure campaigns. Deter Malik and other organizers through systematic censorship and fear. south carolina is an ameriKKKan legal jurisdiction purpose-built to work against the incarcerated members of our movement. It has especially strict rules on visitation and communications. south carolina is rare in that it maintains that prisoners “lose the privilege of speaking to the news media when they enter south carolina department of ‘corrections.’" This means Malik faces a more brutal, systematic censorship in south carolina. It is harder to reach them 1:1, and with surveillance, even if press reaches out anyways, the lines will likely be cut, which creates a further layer of surveillance while they navigate a completely new terrain. The intake process at the kirkland facility has been one of blatant torture. kirkland reception center forcibly cut Malik’s locs off to further force assimilation, and gave them nowhere to sleep but the hard floor of a freezing, crowded cell. This is what repression looks like. ameriKKKa understands that messages from our prisoners are historically necessary for political movements. The empire slows our movements down first by taking our comrades from the streets, dwindling our numbers and isolating the bravest of us as outliers, and again by taking the most important voices from popular discourse. oregon chose now, after all their state sanctioned violence did not break me, to make me the problem of another DOC, and to attempt to sever the ties and connections forged in the crucible of revolutionary love and struggle. Malik Muhammed, April 22nd 2026 This is how the system tries to stop political prisoners from fighting, sever them entirely from our struggle, and silence all prisoners from speaking out against systematic torture. This is the same system that is already strangling our comrade, tightening its grip. TIMELINE Ramadan begins, February 18th, 2026, and well past dawn, EOCI serves Muslim prisoners rotten food. When prisoners speak out, the kitchen coordinator retaliates by cutting necessary nutrients from meals. For a few weeks, Malik had been studying political books with fellow prisoners. On February 20th, Malik publicizes EOCI’s abuses and demands edible food and dignity for Muslim prisoners. On March 2nd, to punish for publicizing the abuse they endured, EOCI throws Malik in solitary confinement and puts them on “Security Threat Management” and “Loss of Privileges" (STM LOP). This means: No phone calls No visits No receiving letters No access to their belongings No access to commissary (can’t buy themselves supplies or food) No out-of-cell time No attending programs offered by the prison On March 11th, Malik is brought to a hearing where they are told (for the first time) they are on day nine of serving a 14-day sanction, and they will be released from solitary after. On March 16th, EOCI does not release Malik from solitary, instead they are on an “STM-hold.” This supposedly means they will be held indefinitely, without recourse. Lieutenant Richmond of the “STM unit” will meet with Malik the next day to discuss. On March 17th, no meeting occurs. They’re left completely in the dark. On March 18th, the prison keeps Malik in solitary during Eid, so they miss the celebration with their fellow prisoners. March 20th: Malik is finally allowed a phone call. EOCI superintendent, David Pedro, sits in the room for the entire conversation. He also limits Malik’s access to literature to two zines and two books at a time, and informs them that they are banned from their studies with other prisoners. Malik will not be allowed any more calls before they are trafficked. On March 23rd, oregon department of “corrections” officers (COs) tell Malik that the STM unit “doesn’t want them to have anything.” On March 25th, Malik writes to friends and family, requesting press interviews, urging the public to support them and other prisoners enduring ODOC’s abuse. On March 27th, Malik begins a hunger strike (with no access to their support team). They put a sign in their window to say they don’t want food trays. Friends and family travel to see Malik, but the prison denies visitation.ODOC blocks one person from speaking to Malik entirely. On March 30th, Malik vanishes from ODOC records. Their whereabouts and status are hidden from their friends, family, and legal team. Friends and family search tirelessly for them, calling numerous government agencies. No answers. April 2nd. Local independent journalism collective, We Will Free Us, calls various ODOC offices. No answers. April 6th, Malik’s name reappears at midnight, on a SCDOC registry. Later, friends and family receive a letter from columbia, south carolina. In it, Malik details horrific abuse: their locs cut off, forced to sleep on the cold, concrete floor of a packed cell, and thousands of dollars in debt to the prison system. On April 13th, a local lawyer is denied attempting to visit Malik. “No one gets sent FROM oregon to south carolina, one of the most dangerous DOC’s in this fascist carceral state. The Lee County Riots saw twenty one dead, forty five injured. This prison system has one of the worst overcrowding in the country. The intake and — reception process takes up to 180 days I’ve — heard people be here longer because they don’t have any bed space. They get bed space when someone is killed.” Malik Muhammed, April 22nd 2026 INTERSTATE COMPACT When they were initially fighting their case, Malik was frequently shuffled all over between federal facilities and county jails to coerce them into accepting a deal. This is known amongst prisoners as a federal bureau of prisons practice known as “diesel therapy,” an ironic name for a torture practice. “The county jail sucks, every single one imagine prison guards who think they’re cops and heroes and better than you, and multiply that by 10,000, give 'em badges, guns, deputize them and tell — themselves they’re better than everyone plus, worse living conditions. With an overworked, underpaid litigator, you’re likely to speak with them once a month.” Malik Muhammed, April 7, 2024. The prison coerced them into remaining in oregon to stop the torture. This is why Malik was recently trafficked under the authority of the Interstate Compact, instead of the bureau of prisons, even though they have federal charges. Transfers, arrests, and investigations triggered by the compact’s rules are also executed by local and state law enforcement agencies, just like fed bop diesel therapy. All institutionalized militias founded in slave-catching and enforcing capital interests. The interstate compact for “adult offender” supervision (ICAOS) was enacted in 2002, a binding contract between ameriKKKan states and territories to ensure that when prisoners cross jurisdictional lines, they are surveilled the entire time. The ICAOS commission was created at the same time to oversee transfers and prisoner movement between state facilities, and enforce the compact with sanctions if needed. The commission is essentially a federal bureau that has the ability to write and pass laws that supersede all lower jurisdictions, since “the agreement created a compact that must be construed as federal law.” The commission also runs a data base surveilling the movement of incarcerated people across state lines called ICOTS. Practice note text excerpt. Interstate Commission for Adult Offender Supervision Bench-Book, “1-5. Effect of the ICAOS on the States.” In 2025 alone, the commission passed 19 new amendments. The 2025 amendments sped up transfer procedures, strengthening the commission’s rule making and enforcement powers. Transfers are even faster, and harder to contest. In an ICAOS training video, Suzanne Brooks, Education and Implementation Manager for the National Office, says that these new amendments make transfers and interstate surveillance “a lot easier and cleaner, especially when you’re dealing with your external stakeholders that are involved in this process.” The ICAOS commission can be pointed at to articulate why revolutionaries reject ameriKKKan electoralism at any level; local governments are fronts for mythic ameriKKKan democracy, legitimizing fascism while serving as active oppressors and overseers. What this illustrates is that “small” governments across ameriKKKa each have their own rules, their own front end, with government agencies and abuse hotlines presented to the people as the “proper” method of challenging injustice. When we are forcibly taken across jurisdictions by the state, we are expected to learn the new rules, follow them, and adapt to new jurisdictions by retaining new legal counsel if necessary, all while incarcerated and cut off from the outside world. While this happens, ameriKKKan jurisdictions are connected through one, unified back end, where they can simply pluck our comrades and place them in more surveilled areas, purpose-built for repression. This shows how Malik’s transfer to south carolina, and transfers in general are not merely an act of retaliation, in which one government sends them to a more repressive one as a punishment for speaking up, but an escalation from a unified fascist system of repression that can quickly mobilize against people they deem political threats. This shows how the empire uses political prisoners as perpetual examples to ensure they remain isolated; The state did not stop using Malik as an example after incarcerating them, just as Malik did not stop being a part of our movement. This shows us the dual nature of repression: Every act of repression aims to set an example, meaning that every act of repression is a threat of future violence. When the state escalates against our comrades inside, it’s flashing its guns at all of us. It’s threatening all of us. We prove to the state that these threats work, every day the prison is left standing. Control Unit Torture, art by Kevin “Rashid” Johnson PATTERN OF ESCALATION Malik’s transfer wasn’t an anomaly, but the state follow through on its many threats. Over a year ago, Rashid Johnson was also interstate transferred, “interstate compacted”, to south carolina after he exposed the virginia prison crisis: a wave of self-immolations protesting the systemic torture, retaliation, starvation, and severe medical neglect at virginia’s two supermax prisons, red onion and wallens ridge. Rashid’s hands and feet were shackled as south carolina “corrections” officers trafficked him across state lines from red onion—in the back of an empty steel van, with no seats or seatbelts. The pigs severely injured Rashid’s leg, by driving erratically at high speeds and throwing him against the van’s steel walls. “At every turn I’ve suffered abuse and blatant attempts on my life.” Rashid Johnson, Dec 28th 2025 He was kept at Kirkland reception center for a day, before being transferred again to Perry “corrections” Institution in South Carolina. He was immediately thrown in conditions of solitary confinement that he describes as “downright medieval.” The cement cell, with no bed, was coated with an insecticide meant for outdoor use only. Inhaling poisoned air, Rashid developed a severe respiratory infection that had to be medically treated. When he requested a bed to sleep on, pigs brought one that reeked of human feces. Rashid later developed a tooth infection that the prison refused to treat, leaving him to both coordinate private dental care and pay for it out of pocket to avoid septic shock. Multiple prisoners who engaged in acts of protest or reveal abuse to the public were systematically tortured and silenced through the interstate compact. Ekong Eshiet and Demetrius Wallace are two prisoners among at least six who set themselves on fire in protest of the horrific conditions at red onion and had to be treated for third degree burns, with Demetrius needing a 14-day hospitalization and a skin graft. Both, like Rashid, exposed the virginia prison crisis by getting personal testimony out of the prison walls and were transferred to indiana and maine afterword. Describing the racialized torture at red onion, Ekong said, "I don’t mind setting myself on fire again… This time, I would set my whole body on fire before I have to stay [in solitary confinement] and do the rest of my time up here.” Ekong Eshiet, January 15th 2025 In early 2025 Ekong was taken from virginia to indiana and was thrown in long term solitary confinement, further mental and physical torture meant to silence, or kill him. UPROAR (Uniting prisoners’ Relatives, Organizing Against Repression) was founded in direct response to the virginia prison crisis, and after they organized a public pressure campaign he was transferred back to virginia in February of 2026. Once prisoners learn they are getting transferred, they know they will be completely cut off from the outside world for an undisclosed amount of time. This includes losing access to legal counsel while in transit, and often during intake at the second location. This is less to prevent lawsuits or prisoners’ access to legal channels, as the prison is not very scared of the “justice” system. What this does is ensure all communication avenues including legal counsel are shut down, so that prisoners cannot get information to the public through their lawyers if they lose access to their support team. When prison system shuts down legal or “proper” channels, it communicates to us that repression and oppression are the primary objectives, more so than maintaining the façade of a rules based order. The prison cares more about controlling the oppressed than they do about giving themselves permission to control the oppressed. We witnessed this in how the prison escalated further in the wake of the virginia prison crisis. In other words, it isn’t the prison or police that keep up the lie that they each generate peace rather than oppressive colonial violence: it is the settlers who legitimize it as necessary for peace, that maintain the façade. In that way, settlers are a prison. We also witnessed this dynamic on full display when immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) targeted Palestinian people after the Student Intifada. ICE targeted Leqaa after a protest against columbia university’s support for the zionist settler-colony; The zionist entity has murdered over 200 members of her family as it continues its genocidal bombardment of Gaza. The New York police department provided ICE with Leqaa’s information. She was abducted and then taken 1,500 miles from her home in new jersey to ICE’s Prairieland migrant prison camp in Texas. The facility like most prisons is intentionally overcrowded, and known for medical neglect, and unsanitary facilities. Leqaa, like Malik, was trafficked to separate her from her support network and family, and to a different jurisdiction with anti-immigration judges. In February, Leqaa suffered a seizure. She was hospitalized for three days, in shackles the whole time, while ICE denied her family proof of life and withheld her whereabouts from her lawyer. Doctors confirmed her seizure was from malnutrition, sleep deprivation, and stress. The meals at migrant prison camps, like prisons, lack necessary nutrients; and Leqaa, like Rashid and Malik, was made to sleep on concrete floors. When she stabilized, ICE took her back to detention. At her third bond hearing, her lawyer pleaded with the court that if she wasn’t released, she would likely die. “Twice now, an immigration judge has ordered Leqaa’s release on bond. And twice, the government has overruled its own judges, exploiting a rarely used provision to keep her confined.” Update from Leqaa’s fundraiser prior to her release. She spent over a year, also sleeping on cold hard floors, denied proper food, and was prevented from practicing her faith. She spent a second Ramadan enduring ICE torture, finally released on March 16th, 2026, shortly before Eid. AMERIKKKA HAS 6-7 MILLION PEOPLE UNDER PRISON SURVEILLANCE: IN MIGRANT CAMPS, PRISONS, JAILS, PROBATION AND PAROLE. Trafficking is a strategy ameriKKKa has long used to subjugate Black and Brown people. The trafficking of Leqaa, Rashid, Malik and so many others show how this is not a colonial legacy but a practice that never retired. Many speak out against the Trump administration; they often do not speak out against ameriKKKa, nevertheless support the actions needed to bring down the settler-colony. Settlers march and chant, “This is what democracy looks like.” The reason we write this is simple, despite many understanding that the effects of chattel slavery still exist through prisons and policing, it remains a widely uncontested function of society. And, this is substantiated by the fact that ameriKKKa is erecting racialized detention camps across the country, and they are not destroyed. They are widely condemned, sure, but they still stand. They still stand because the prison still stands. police and prisons are rendered different concepts from ICE altogether, even though “local jails obscure and facilitate mass deportation under Trump.” Nearly half of ICE abductions are facilitated by local jails. We know they are just as capable of kidnapping our loved ones, taking them away, murdering them, and have done it the entire time they’ve had a badge. There are pleas and petitions for local police agencies to arrest immigration agents as if these forces are not an active part of ameriKKKa’s 500 year tradition of oppressive violence. police are welcome to drive their cars through most neighborhoods, enter store fronts and public spaces. Members of the internal colonies are told to go peacefully when abducted into a system that throws us into unmarked graves under the jail and tells our families we ran away. Normalizing this horrifying reality we live in enables the suffering caused by pigs and the prison just by nature of giving them access to our communities, by demanding they “do their job,” or carry out “justice.” Normalizing this reality legitimizes ameriKKKa as an authority, as if any idea of safety we think we know now is only thanks to its threats of violence. ameriKKKas barbarism renders proper channels as merely dressing the state uses to quell dissent, meanwhile prisoners suffer while their families often navigate near-useless mazes without end. Meanwhile, jurisdictions all over ameriKKKa are mandated to work together through one fascist backend. Efficiency at any cost. We cannot prioritize the legal system as the safe, the low risk, the “green” option. It has always been a line up towards the grave. Every act of repression is a threat of future violence. Daily life in ameriKKKa normalizes systemic violence and fosters inaction. And every second that passes, the prison escalates: Simple, disruptive pressure tactics are met with torture, and brutal repression. Blatant murder attempts across prisons painted as medical neglect. The zionist entity has given itself the permission to murder Palestinian prisoners through laws it enforces on land it stole through catastrophe. Political prisoners face a formidable front. There is no passive way to prepare for the curfews we know all too well are coming, the door knocks, the raids, the “smoke curling black against the daylight sky.” We must become formidable. The prisons are escalating. It’s time we do too! ESCALATE, artwork by Zola. "PRISON IS JUST ANOTHER FRONT” This Essay was published on Malik Muhammed’s blog on May 7th, 2026 and written on April 22nd, titled “Update from South Carolina.” The Biden admin’s fascist state propagated prosecution of me to “appear as hard on left wing extremists as the right." This kicked off the politicized nature of my case. A “Black, Muslim, militant, extremist domestic terror threat,” as my FBI profile says. I’ve been designated a "doomed man” in the words of George Jackson, long before the FBI did so. Born poor, Black, and Muslim, twenty five was the average age we’d make it to, before being dead or in jail. The fascist state’s systems of oppression orchestrate the demise of doomed men, women, and children like this, daily, for fun. They love their controlled and manipulated statistics. I’m no one to be controlled. ODOC [oregon department of Corrections] found that out, clear and present. No matter the hole they put me in, nor the length of time they put me there, I do not capitulate. Nor does the community of love and solidarity and rage I have. The people who fight the state because resistance IS essence, because the people are what matter, their love endures. oregon chose now — after all their state sanctioned violence did not break me — to make me the problem of another DOC, and to attempt to sever the ties and connections forged in the crucible of revolutionary love and struggle. They’ll succeed in making me another DOC’s problems, at least. But it’s nothing new as an abolitionist. Our rage at the carceral state encompasses ALL prisons. Cuz none are free 'till we ALL are free, 'till ALL cages are empty, and all prisons are libraries. As a revolutionary, prison is just another front for the war. Any prison. So I’ll fight and resist on this new front, I’ll continue to agitate, aggravate, and organize against the state. I will NOT leave ODOC alone either. They will need to answer for their hole abuses, their hindering of my legal counsel, turning away visitors without cause or reason. Their blatant, racist political persecution. And their hope that sending me across the u.s. to the south would see me as a fish out of water — but I can swim anywhere. Anywhere the people are, I’ll build community, through love, rage, and solidarity. ODOC did not like my cross racial study group. They didn’t like the education of the people because they prefer slaves. But to break free from the slave mentality, one must be ACUTELY aware of being one. That’s why education is the cornerstone to giving the people the tools to liberate themselves. Militancy without education is wanton aggression. Political education without militancy is all theory — academic. To forge both is to create a weapon most deadly against the state. So ODOC created a fictitious reason to put me in the hole, then created an in-house RICO charge because the other wouldn’t stick. They painted the blog and fundraiser as racketeering and spreading propaganda. The DR (I wish I still had it) was as ridiculous as the RICO charge on the Stop Cop City siblings. They wrote it in such a way to convince their superiors I was a threat to be sent away. No one gets sent FROM oregon to south carolina, one of the most dangerous DOC’s in this fascist carceral state. The Lee County riots saw twenty one dead, forty five injured. This prison system has one of the worst overcrowding in the country. The intake and reception process takes up to 180 days — I’ve heard people be here longer — because they don’t have any bed space. They get bed space when someone is killed. Each soul carted off from R&E [Reception and Evaluation] to their prison is replacing a dead one. They passed an overcrowding act to let out nonviolent people. They make everyone eligible for parole and do percentages on their time, and still, they do not have enough beds for the people the state persecutes. R&E is three to a cell — one on the floor because there’s only two bunks. The food has no nutritional value — yesterday’s breakfast was bread and water. This system believing prisoners deserve bread and water is on par with this being the Bible belt, the Antebellum south, the home of those capitalists that sent poor racist whites to defend their ideal form of capital accumulation against the north and were rewarded with Black codes, the prisoner leasing program, and the mass incarceration we see today. Of course, they don’t even believe we deserve bread and water. We’re still only 3/4 of a human being. Work horses that need to be beat, not food. They mask the racism by having a nominally all Black staff. That means nothing. The overseers of the plantation are just inundated and indoctrinated to do the bare minimum, not think. They’re turnkeys, nothing more. That’s why they do not stop violence, much like pigs on the street can hide behind the Supreme Court decision that ruled they have “no duty to protect,” so can these fascists let stabbings occur, even orchestrate them, and continue on overseeing the plantation. Who cares about another Black man’s death in here? Certainly not those coming for a check. prisons are an otherwise destitute economy, providing careers for those not qualified to work at McDonald’s — which would be much more respectable. Thanks to this transfer and being in R&E, I missed the Eid meal in oregon and could not participate in the one here. The state’s repressive tools seek to break me down and eviscerate my relationships, but the people who love the people, like I, don’t break so easily and exist all over the u.s. I take state repression as a sign I’m doing something right. Anytime you have the oppressor in a reactionary stance — it’s good. Their rigidity and yearning for consistency is their downfall. An anarchist’s greatest weapons are their critical thinking skills and adaptability. I adapt well. No environment can change me or break me. So I’ll do here what I do. I’ll organize, aggravate and agitate against the state. I’ll rally community. I’ll educate. I’ll link folks to inside-outside resources and organizing spaces. I’ll grow ties, build bonds, and forge relationships that will endure lifetimes full of revolutionary love, rage, and solidarity. I’ll never stop fighting for the people. I’ll live, fight, and die for them because I love the people. Because I am the people, not the pig. And those that are with me, I hope it’s not out of pity, but cuz you realize this shit is killing you, too, however much more softly. Ours is a love, rage, and solidarity that recognizes no imaginary border lines, abandons the constructs of time, permeates through walls, bars, and prison gates. It stays like the roots of an oak, stands tall as the fir, and may bend as the willow but defies gravity still and won’t break. Our love persists like daisies pushing through sidewalk cracks and dandelions blown through the wind, from a child’s wish. I sit on the floor in this cell, meant for two but rooming three, awaiting the ticking clock to send me to what will be my residence for the next four years. And I am reassured, steadfast, and ready. This is an opportunity to meet new people, organize in a new space, a new state. To do whatever I feel called to, by my creator and myself. It feels like part of the plan, Allah’s plan. I will remember that resistance is essence. And no matter the circumstances, I’ll sow seeds of revolutionary love, rage, and solidarity. At this time, they only give me two envelopes per month and four sheets of paper. I have to buy things from the “cadre” that work the units. It’s gross, prisoners exploiting prisoners, but that’s the deal. If I don’t respond right away to your letters, I will when I can. If anyone from my queer Ashville community would reach out, I’d love to talk more about the community you’re forging there. I’d love to know if there are any groups like CARE out here. Love Rage & Solidarity, Malik [this is how prisons are escalating (read) This is how prisons are escalating - Readable PDF! this is how prisons are escalating (read).pdf 951 KB download-circle](https://www.wewillfreeus.org/content/files/2026/05/this-is-how-prisons-are-escalating–read-.pdf “Download”) [this is how prisons are escalating (zine) This is how prisons are escalating - Zine PDF! this is how prisons are escalating (zine).pdf 3 MB download-circle](https://www.wewillfreeus.org/content/files/2026/05/this-is-how-prisons-are-escalating–zine-.pdf “Download”) WRITE TO MALIK You can write to Malik at: Malik Muhammed #400523 Kirkland Reception and Evaluation Center Unit F3A-203 4344 Broad River Rd Columbia SC 29210 Malik’s communications are currently very restricted, although they may not be able to respond quickly, they would still deeply appreciate receiving letters. Malik has requested that people write their address in their letters because they no longer have access to their address book. They are not allowed to receive photographs or newspapers until they are transferred again. If you are interested in providing additional methods of support, please [email protected] OUR CHALLENGE Read Blood in My Eye by George Jackson, and/or Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano. Write a letter to Malik, answering any of the following prompts: a) What is a discovery you made while reading the book(s)? It can be a personal discovery or something you learned. b) What is bringing these books into relevance, even 50 years after their publishing? c) What brings you hope from these texts? Thank Malik for recommending these books (even if you’ve already read them)! BOOKS George Jackson, Blood in my Eye Eduardo Galeano, Open Veins of Latin America Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism Angela Y Davis, Are Prisons Obsolete Rashid Johnson, Defying the Tomb ARTICLES & ESSAYS Malik Muhammed, Segstutionalization Hole Thoughts: Reflections and Rants From Segregation 2020 UPRISING PRISONER MALIK MUHAMMAD SPEAKS FROM SNAKE RIVER DC IN OREGON Update From South Carolina Rashid Johnson, I NOW FACE RETALIATION AND CENSORSHIP FOR REPORTING PRISON ABUSES. MY RETALIATION AND ABUSE CONTINUES IN SOUTH CAROLINA PRISONS UNDER INTERSTATE COMPACT. Ekong Eshiet, My name is Ekong Ben Eshiet Jr. ICAOS SOURCES Interstate Compact. “1.5 Effect of the ICAOS on the States,” April 1, 2026. https://interstatecompact.org/bench-book/ch1/1-5-effect-of-the-icaos-on-the-states. Interstate Compact. “1.7 Effect of Withdrawal,” April 1, 2026. https://interstatecompact.org/bench-book/ch1/1-7-effect-of-withdrawal. Interstate Compact. “1.8 Key Features of ICAOS,” April 1, 2026. https://interstatecompact.org/bench-book/ch1/1-8-key-features-of-icaos. “2025 Rule Amendment Training- December 2025,” December 11, 2025. https://vimeo.com/1145754678. From We Will Free Us via This RSS Feed.
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Democrat Cindy Burbank wins Nebraska Senate primary, planning to drop out if polling indicates she can’t win. Federal appeals court temporarily pauses ruling that blocked Trump’s 10% global tariff. South Carolina Senate blocks redistricting push. Senate confirms Kevin Warsh to Federal Reserve board. Former GEO Group executive appointed acting ICE director. Alaska official steered $80 million in contracts to investor who sponsored his cruise. Cuba ends fixed fuel prices as a consequence of U.S. sanctions. Ukraine strikes gas facilities 1,500 kilometers inside Russia. RSF drone strikes hit civilian market and water source in Karnoi, North Darfur. Peru charges leftist presidential candidate Roberto Sanchez with financial crimes. Nigerian military airstrike kills at least 100 civilians at market in Zamfara state, Amnesty says. Libyan authorities free and deport 120 kidnapped migrants. Islamic State claims first set of deadly attacks on Syrian government forces since February. Pakistan signals possible expansion of regional defense pact with Saudia Arabia. Drop Site is now live on WhatsApp. Get our latest reporting, podcasts, and breaking news, delivered directly. Join the channel here. 🛒 Get your Drop News Not Bombs Hoodie here. This is Drop Site Daily, our free daily news recap. We send it Monday through Friday. Today’s edition is being sent to more than 750,000 subscribers. Help us grow that number by forwarding and recommending this newsletter. Subscribe now U.S. President Donald J. Trump, Tesla and SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk, and Nvidia President and CEO Jensen Huang, are greeted by China’s Vice President Han Zheng as they arrive at the Beijing Capital International Airport on May 13, 2026. Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images. Iran and Ceasefire Trump: “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation”: President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he does not consider Americans’ financial struggles in the war with Iran. “The only thing that matters, when I’m talking about Iran, they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters outside the White House on Tuesday. “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all. That’s the only thing that motivates me.” Iran deputy FM says U.S. rejected proposal “because it is not a letter of surrender”: Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, defended Tehran’s conditions Tuesday as “the minimum requirements of any serious, sustainable arrangement aligned with the UN Charter,” arguing that Washington’s rejection exposed an intention to impose political will through coercion rather than pursue genuine peace. Gharibabadi, who met Monday with senior officials from France and Norway, said the U.S. position was self-contradictory. “One cannot speak of a ceasefire while maintaining a siege, or of diplomacy while intensifying sanctions and backing “a regime that is the source of aggression and instability,” he said. Pakistan denies sheltering Iranian military aircraft as U.S.-Iran ceasefire teeters: Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry rejected as “misleading and sensationalized” a CBS News report that Iran had moved military aircraft, including a reconnaissance plane, to a Pakistani air base to shield them from potential U.S. strikes, saying the aircraft arrived during ceasefire-period diplomatic logistics and that both Iranian and U.S. aircraft used the base. (Sen. Lindsey Graham later questioned War Secretary Pete Hegseth on the report.) Saudi Arabia bombed Iran in covert “tit-for-tat” strikes in March, Reuters reports: Saudi Arabia’s Air Force carried out multiple covert strikes on Iran in late March—the first known direct Saudi attacks on Iranian territory—in retaliation for Iranian strikes on Saudi targets, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing two Western and two Iranian officials. Saudi Arabia made Iran aware of the strikes, which were followed by intensive diplomacy and Saudi threats of further retaliation, producing an informal bilateral de-escalation agreement that took effect in the week before the broader U.S.-Iran ceasefire on April 7. WSJ: Mossad chief visited UAE to coordinate war with Iran: The head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, David Barnea, secretly visited the United Arab Emirates on at least two separate occasions in March and April to coordinate the war with Iran, according to the Wall Street Journal. The news follows an earlier report by the Wall Street Journal that the UAE carried out covert military strikes on Iran, including an attack on a refinery on Iran’s Lavan Island in early April shortly after President Donald Trump announced the ceasefire. Classified U.S. intelligence shows Iran retained most of its missile capability, contradicting administration claims: U.S. intelligence assessments from early May show Iran has regained access to 30 of its 33 Strait of Hormuz missile sites, retained roughly 70% of its prewar missile stockpile, and restored access to approximately 90% of its underground missile storage and launch facilities nationwide. The intelligence, reported by the New York Times, directly contradicts claims by President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that Iran’s military was “decimated.” The findings also confirm a U.S. military stockpile problem: if the ceasefire collapses, Washington has already depleted Tomahawk cruise missiles, Patriot interceptors, and other precision weapons—firing more Tomahawks than the Pentagon procures in a decade—while Iran retains considerable Hormuz strike capacity. The White House called the report “virtual treason” and the Pentagon accused the Times of acting as “public relations agents for the Iranian regime.” Kuwait arrests four alleged IRGC operatives after armed infiltration attempt on Bubiyan Island: Kuwait’s Interior Ministry arrested four men it identified as Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps colonels and officers on May 1 after they allegedly attempted to infiltrate Bubiyan Island by sea aboard a chartered fishing boat, wounding a Kuwaiti soldier in a subsequent confrontation; two additional suspects reportedly escaped. Iran’s Foreign Ministry denied the operation was military in nature, claiming the sailors entered Kuwaiti waters due to a navigation malfunction, while Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry condemned the incident as a “flagrant violation” of sovereignty. Pentagon says Iran war has cost $29 billion as Hegseth refuses to tell Congress how much more he needs: Pentagon comptroller Jay Hurst told Congress Tuesday that the Iran war has cost roughly $29 billion—up from $25 billion two weeks ago—while Hegseth repeatedly declined to say how much emergency supplemental funding he would request or when. Sen. Lisa Murkowski noted that 15,000 U.S. troops, more than 20 warships, and an active naval blockade remain deployed. Hegseth also made clear the administration has no intention of seeking congressional authorization to continue operations, claiming Trump “has all the authorities he needs under Article 2.” Chinese oil tanker passes through Strait of Hormuz: A Chinese supertanker carrying two million barrels of Iraqi crude has passed through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Al Jazeera citing ship-tracking data. The Yuan Hua Hu crude carrier is now anchored off the Gulf of Oman. U.S. Central Command says forces have redirected 65 commercial vessels and “disabled” four others, as part of its naval blockade of Iran: “USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) continues operations in the Arabian Sea, including enforcement of the U.S. blockade against Iran. CENTCOM forces have redirected 65 commercial vessels and disabled 4.” IEA warns global oil inventories depleting at record pace: The International Energy Agency (IEA) projected global oil supply to drop by 3.9 million barrels per day throughout 2026 as a result of disruptions caused by the Iran war. “More than ten weeks after the war in the Middle East began, mounting supply losses from the Strait of Hormuz are depleting global oil inventories at a record pace,” the IEA said in its latest oil market report. “With Hormuz tanker traffic still restricted, cumulative supply losses from Gulf producers already exceed 1 billion barrels with more than 14 mb/d of oil now shut in, an unprecedented supply shock.” Iran executes another man on espionage charges: Iran executed another man on charges of espionage and intelligence cooperation with Israel on Wednesday, according to Iranian state media. Ehsan Afreshteh was accused of receiving training from the Mossad in Nepal and providing Israel with sensitive national intelligence. Lebanon Eight killed in Israeli airstrikes near Beirut: At least eight people were killed, including two children, in a series of Israeli airstrikes on a coastal highway south of Beirut on Wednesday, according to the Lebanese health ministry. At least 22 children have been killed and 89 injured since Israel agreed to a “ceasefire” on April 17, the ministry reported. At least 2,896 people, including 200 children, have been killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since March 2, according to the health ministry. More than 8,824 others have been wounded. Israel issues displacement orders for six more villages: The Israeli military said Wednesday it had begun a new wave of strikes in the south of Lebanon and issued new displacement orders for at least six villages in the area. Hezbollah claims 25 operations against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon: Hezbollah’s military media arm claimed Tuesday it carried out 25 operations against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, including guided missile strikes on Merkava tanks in Bayyada and near Taybeh, suicide drone swarm attacks against troop gatherings near Naqoura port and the Al-Qouzah Triangle, and rocket and artillery strikes across multiple sites including Rashaf and Deir Seryan. UAE blacklists Lebanese citizens and groups: The United Arab Emirates has blacklisted 21 Lebanese people and groups over alleged ties to Hezbollah, according to the state news agency WAM. They include 16 Lebanese citizens and five UAE-based organizations accused of supporting groups designated as “terror” groups. Palestine Israeli forces kill 16-year-old Palestinian child in West Bank attack: Israeli forces killed a 16-year-old Palestinian child in the town of Jiljilyya on Wednesday, according to the Ramallah-based Ministry of Health. Four others were wounded as Israeli troops fired live ammunition and rubber-coated rounds after armed Israeli settlers stormed several Palestinian villages near Ramallah, attacking homes and stealing cattle, according to the Wafa news agency. Israeli military bombs house in Gaza, killing one: Israeli forces bombed a house on Salah al-Din Street east of Nuseirat camp on Tuesday, killing one Palestinian, according to Palestine Online. Israeli forces also fired on homes and displacement tents southeast of Khan Younis, dropped a drone bomb on the Jabaliya Services Club, and detonated residential buildings in the Al-Tuffah neighborhood. Israel secretly approved 34 new West Bank settlements in March: The Israeli security cabinet secretly approved 34 new settlements in the occupied West Bank in late March—the largest number approved by any Israeli government at one time. The 34 new settlements join 68 settlements the current government has approved since its formation a little over three years ago. By comparison, only six new settlements were formally approved by Israel in the 30 years between the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 and the establishment of the current government. “This represents an unprecedented pace and scale of expansion,” Amir Daoud, director of Publishing and Documentation at the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, told Drop Site. “These new sites are distributed across the West Bank in what can be described as a fragmented but comprehensive pattern, effectively targeting the entire territory.” Read Naqaa Hamed’s full report from the occupied West Bank for Drop Site here. U.S. News By Julian Andreone, with Ryan Grim. Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email Andreone at [email protected]. Trump arrives in Beijing for two-day summit: President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for a two-day summit with Chinese president Xi Jinping. It marks the first visit to China by a U.S. president since Trump visited in 2017. Trump was accompanied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, along with a number of tech executives, including Elon Musk of Tesla, Tim Cook of Apple, and Jensen Huang of Nvidia. The U.S. recently sanctioned several Chinese firms it accused of assisting in Iranian oil shipments and supplying satellite imagery allegedly used in Iranian military operations. China condemned the measures as “illegal unilateral sanctions.” Democrat Cindy Burbank wins Nebraska Senate primary: Cindy Burbank won the Nebraska Democratic Senate primary Tuesday, defeating pastor Bill Forbes—whom state Democrats had accused of being a Republican plant. Burbank has said she will drop out if polling shows she cannot win in November, potentially clearing the way for independent Dan Osborn to face off against Republican Senator Pete Ricketts in the fall. Osborn, a steamfitter and former union organizer who lost to Republican Sen. Deb Fischer by just 7 points in 2024 despite Trump carrying the state by 20. Osborn has pledged not to caucus with either party if elected. Federal appeals court temporarily pauses ruling that blocked Trump’s 10% global tariff: A U.S. federal appeals court temporarily reinstated Trump’s 10% global tariff after a Court of International Trade panel ruled 2-1 that Trump had failed to meet the legal criteria for the tariff under Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act. Trump’s global tariff is set to expire in July unless extended by Congress. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is already processing $35.46 billion in refunds on tariffs previously struck down under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. South Carolina Senate blocks redistricting push: The South Carolina Senate failed Tuesday to reach the two-thirds majority needed to extend its session for a redistricting vote, with five Republicans joining Democrats in opposition, including Majority Leader Shane Massey, who resisted direct calls from Trump to push through the redistricting effort. The vote deals a setback to Trump’s effort to redraw maps before the midterms, though Governor Henry McMaster could still call a special session to approve a new map. Senate confirms Kevin Warsh to Federal Reserve board: The Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors Tuesday in a 51-45 vote, with Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman the sole Democrat voting in favor of his confirmation. Warsh’s confirmation deepens concerns about the central bank’s independence after Trump said in December he would only appoint a chair who agreed with him on interest rates. The Trump administration has also targeted current Chair Jerome Powell through a now-dropped Justice Department investigation, and by attempting to fire Lisa Cook, a case now being reviewed by the Supreme Court. Warsh has promised “regime change,” including closer coordination with the Treasury Department. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigns: Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary resigned Tuesday at the direction of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. On his departure, President Trump said: “Marty’s a terrific guy, but he’s going to go on and he’s going to lead a good life. He was having some difficulty.” Makary’s FDA lost 3,500 workers to DOGE-driven layoffs, saw the departure of high-profile leaders in the agency, and was beset by political difficulties, including demands from anti-abortion Republicans for the agency to restrict the mail-order abortion medication mifepristone. Kyle Diamantas, a former corporate lawyer who led the agency’s food division and lacks a medical degree, will serve as acting commissioner. Former GEO Group executive appointed acting ICE director: David Venturella, a former employee of the private prison contractor GEO Group, will serve as acting ICE director, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced Tuesday. Venturella, who previously oversaw contracts for immigration detention centers at the Department of Homeland Security, replaces Todd Lyons, who is retiring. Border czar Tom Homan also worked for GEO Group. FBI running secret “payback squad” targeting Trump political enemies, sources say: The FBI has assembled a team of agents internally called the “payback squad” tasked with pursuing political targets set by the Trump administration, according to a new report from NOTUS. One such target is reportedly former CIA director John Brennan, who is expected to be indicted in the coming weeks; his indictment is part of a larger criminal case being built by the FBI that seeks to charge former top government officials with “grand conspiracy” against the president. Alaska official steered $80 million in contracts to investor who sponsored his cruise: Documents obtained by The Alaska Current reveal that former Alaska Revenue Commissioner and current Republican gubernatorial candidate Adam Crum awarded more than $80 million in state contracts to companies tied to tech and energy investor Peter Corsell after one of Corsell’s companies sponsored a glacier cruise for a Republican state treasurer conference. Crum also reportedly attempted to funnel $225 million from the state’s rainy day fund into private equity deals with firms connected to Corsell and to data center developers. Corsell has also partnered with one of the state’s regional governments to build North Slope Power, a proposed natural gas utility, with no public record of a formal bid process. Read the entire investigation from The Alaska Current here. Other International News Cuba ends fixed fuel prices as a consequence of U.S. sanctions: Cuba’s Finance and Prices Ministry announced Tuesday that starting May 15, it will liberalize fuel prices, allowing rates at state service stations to fluctuate based on actual import costs—ending a fixed-price regime the government said “cannot be economically sustained under present conditions.” Cuba’s national grid reports that it can meet less than half of its current electricity demand as a result of an escalating sanctions regime on the country. CIA running secret assassination campaign against cartel members inside Mexico, CNN reports: The CIA has been directly participating in lethal operations against cartel members inside Mexico—including a targeted car bombing that killed an alleged Sinaloa Cartel operative on a busy highway outside Mexico City on March 28—as part of an expanded covert campaign led by the agency’s elite Ground Branch unit, CNN reported Tuesday. Mexican Public Security Secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch rejected the characterization of the operation and a subsequent report from the New York Times claimed the CIA provided intelligence for the operation but was not on the ground. Reuters separately reported that one of the alleged CIA officers who was killed in a car crash in northern Mexico last month had been seen days earlier carrying a gun in a local security office. U.S. officials are normally not allowed to carry firearms in Mexico. Ukraine strikes gas facilities 1,500 kilometers inside Russia: Ukrainian drones struck gas facilities in Russia’s Orenburg region Tuesday—more than 1,500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border—according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The attacks come hours after Russian strikes on Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine that killed six people overnight and effectively ended a three-day ceasefire between the countries. Also on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia had tested a new nuclear-capable intercontinental missile, which he claimed could penetrate “all existing and future” missile defense systems. RSF drone strikes hit civilian market and water source in Karnoi, North Darfur: Drone strikes attributed to the Rapid Support Forces struck a market in Karnoi, North Darfur, on Tuesday, killing civilians and destroying transport trucks carrying passengers from Tina to Kutum, while a separate strike disabled the “Am Saleh” well—the area’s primary water source—and killed significant numbers of livestock, according to Sudan Tribune. Drones caused more than 80% of civilian deaths in Sudan during the first four months of 2026, killing at least 880 people, according to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. Peru charges leftist presidential candidate Roberto Sanchez with financial crimes: Peru’s public prosecutor’s office accused leftist candidate Roberto Sanchez of filing false financial disclosures with undisclosed campaign contributions between 2018 and 2020, calling for over five years in prison and permanent disqualification from the presidency. The charges were unsealed Tuesday hours after electoral authorities stated that Sanchez was set to advance to a June 7 run-off against conservative Keiko Fujimori. Honduras arrests former mayor accused of masterminding assassination of environmental leader: Honduran authorities arrested former Tocoa Mayor Adán Fúnez on Tuesday, more than a year after the September 2024 killing of anticorruption and environmental defender Juan López. López was shot seven times days after publicly calling on Fúnez to resign over a corruption scandal tied to an iron oxide mining project Fúnez supported. Fúnez had long been accused by religious and environmental leaders of orchestrating the killing, drawing condemnation from Pope Francis, the United Nations, and the Biden administration. Nigerian military airstrike kills at least 100 civilians at a market in Zamfara state, Amnesty says: At least 100 civilians—many of them women and girls—were killed when a Nigerian military airstrike struck the crowded Tumfa market in Zurmi district, Zamfara state, on Sunday, Amnesty International reported Tuesday. The attack is the second to kill scores of civilians at a northern Nigerian market in a month, following an April strike on a weekly market in Jilli that killed around 200 people; the military has not commented on Sunday’s attack and has previously denied targeting civilians. Turkey unveils draft law expanding maritime claims in Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean, and Black seas: Turkey unveiled draft legislation Tuesday that would codify its contested maritime boundaries and require foreign authorization for economic, scientific, and environmental activities in waters Ankara considers its own. The draft would expand Turkey’s maritime reach in the Black and Mediterranean Seas to 12 nautical miles from its shore, and would retain its claim to the 6 nautical miles it presently claims in the Aegean, where it has said it would oppose Greek expansion. Turkey has reportedly worried about growing collaboration between Greece, Cyprus, and Israel in the Eastern Mediterranean. Libyan authorities free and deport 120 kidnapped migrants: Eastern Libyan security forces freed 120 migrants who had been tortured and held for ransom inside a trafficking compound south of Benghazi, the Government of National Stability’s security directorate said. They said the captives were beaten and filmed to extort money from their families. Three migrants—two Bangladeshis and one Egyptian—were found dead on the Mediterranean shore nearby, and authorities also seized a small boat-building operation used for Mediterranean crossings. Market bombing kills 10 in northwestern Pakistan: A bomb killed 10 people and wounded around 30 others at a crowded market in Dera Ismail Khan on Tuesday. The attack on Tuesday follows a car bombing and ambush in the nearby Bannu district on Saturday, which killed 15 Pakistani police officers. Pakistan has blamed Afghanistan-based militants for the weekend attack, which the Afghan Taliban government dismissed as “baseless.” Islamic State claims first deadly attack on Syrian government forces since February: The Islamic State claimed responsibility on Tuesday for a Monday ambush on a military bus in Hasakah province that killed two Syrian army soldiers and wounded others. This is the group’s first deadly operation against President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government since February, when it declared a new phase of operations; an earlier attack near Raqqa killed four state security personnel. Taiwan asserts independence in advance of U.S.-China conclave: China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said its resolve to oppose Taiwan’s independence was “firm as a rock” and its capability to crush separatism “unbreakable,” as President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing for two days of meetings with President Xi Jinping. Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, however, called the island a “sovereign, independent nation” that would not bow to pressure. The Trump administration announced an $11 billion weapons package for Taiwan in December, its largest ever. Pakistan signals possible expansion of regional defense pact: Pakistan and Saudi Arabia will consider expanding their Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement (SMDA) to include other countries in the region, according to Pakistan’s defense minister. The country’s defense production minister also said that Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey had finalized a draft trilateral defense agreement to expand security cooperation. Bloomberg reported earlier this year Turkey was in “advanced stage discussions” to formally join the pact. Read Drop Site’s reporting about the SMDA agreement here. More from Drop Site: Reporter Courtney Bonneau discusses Lebanon on Drop Site’s weekly livestream: If you want to continue getting this newsletter, you don’t have to do anything. But if this is too much—we do try to be mindful of your inbox—you can unsubscribe from this newsletter while continuing to get the rest of our reporting. 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President Donald Trump says Iran ceasefire on “life support.” Iran’s parliament speaker warns armed forces ready to respond to “any aggression.” Official warns Iran could enrich uranium to weapons grade if attacked. Hormuz closure drives up freight rates on routes with no Middle East exposure. Saudi Aramco CEO calls Hormuz closure largest energy supply shock in history. Iran war has cost American consumers over $37 billion in extra fuel costs. JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs bet on Hormuz reopening by June. U.S. makes largest-ever weekly petroleum release as Iran war depletes emergency reserves. UAE secretly struck Iran including oil refinery attack after ceasefire, WSJ reports. Israel sent Iron Dome batteries and personnel to UAE.Israeli strikes kill at least 13 in southern Lebanon on Monday. Israeli forces kill four Palestinians across Gaza on Monday. EU approves third settler sanctions package after Hungary drops 18-month veto. Palestinian detainees describe systematic sexual abuse in Israeli custody, NYT reports. Palestinian prisoner groups detail systematic torture, starvation in Israeli detention. Israeli Knesset approves tribunal for October 7 suspects in 93-0 vote. Nebraska primary update. Adam Hamawy surges in New Jersey. Supreme Court clears path for Alabama to redraw voting map, reducing majority-Black districts. Sixth Circuit rejects Trump’s mass immigration detention policy in latest appellate defeat. Americans from hantavirus cruise ship now identified in at least 9 states. Former mayor of LA suburb pleads guilty to acting as illegal agent of China. Trump frustrated by failed efforts to destabilize Cuba, Pentagon updates contingency plans. Greece investigates explosive-laden drone found off Lefkada coast. Armed drones killed at least 880 civilians in Sudan during first four months of 2026, UN reports. EU and UK sanction dozens over Russia’s forced deportation and militarization of Ukrainian children. South Africa’s parliament to establish impeachment committee to probe Ramaphosa over Farmgate scandal. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer consulting colleagues on future. Rwanda-backed AFC/M23 rebels withdraw from key positions in eastern Congo in first major frontline shift in months. Bolivian judge reissues arrest warrant for former President Evo Morales. Drop Site is now live on WhatsApp. Get our latest reporting, podcasts, and breaking news, delivered directly. Join the channel here. Get your Drop News Not Bombs Hoodie here. STEAL THIS STORY!—A new documentary on legendary journalist Amy Goodman of Democrat Now! is out in theaters. The film, featuring Drop Site’s Jeremy Scahill and Sharif Abdel Kouddous, is a gripping account of this trailblazing journalist whose unwavering commitment to truth-telling spans three decades of turbulent history. Now playing in select theaters nationwide. Find a theater near you at stealthisstory.org This is Drop Site Daily, our free daily news recap. We send it Monday through Friday. Today’s edition is being sent to more than 750,000 subscribers. Help us grow that number by forwarding and recommending this newsletter. Subscribe now President Donald Trump delivers remarks at a dinner in the Rose Garden at the White House on May 11, 2026 in Washington, DC. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images. Iran and Ceasefire Trump says Iran ceasefire on “life support”: President Donald Trump told reporters Monday that the ceasefire with Iran is “on life support“ and described Iran’s latest proposal as “totally unacceptable” and a “piece of garbage.” Trump said Iran made some nuclear concessions but “did not go nearly far enough.” On the economy, Trump claimed that the Strait of Hormuz closure has benefited American oil producers, with ships now sourcing from Texas, Louisiana, and Alaska. Trump also floated suspending the federal gas tax for the duration of the war and Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said he was introducing legislation to suspend the taxes for 90 days, which would deprive the treasury of billions of dollars of tax revenue. Gas is currently taxed at 18.4 cents per gallon and diesel at just over 24 cents. U.S. gas prices have soared to an average of more than $4.50 a gallon since the start of the war. Iran’s parliament speaker warns armed forces ready to respond to “any aggression”: Iran’s speaker of parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned on Monday that Iranian armed forces are prepared to respond to any aggression from the United States. “Our armed forces are ready to deliver a well-deserved response to any aggression,” Ghalibaf posted on X. “We are prepared for all options; they will be surprised.” In a subsequent post, Ghalibaf said the U.S. must accept Iran’s terms. “There is no alternative but to accept the rights of the Iranian people as laid out in the 14-point proposal. Any other approach will be completely inconclusive; nothing but one failure after another. The longer they drag their feet, the more American taxpayers will pay for it,” he wrote. Official warns Iran could enrich uranium to weapons grade if attacked: Iran’s parliamentary national security and foreign policy commission spokesperson Ebrahim Rezaei warned that Iran would consider the possibility of enriching uranium to weapons-grade levels if the conflict resumed. “One of Iran’s options in the event of another attack could be 90 per cent enrichment. We will examine it in parliament,” Rezaei wrote in a social media post. Hormuz closure drives up freight rates on routes with no Middle East exposure: The disruption caused by the Strait of Hormuz closure has pushed shipping costs higher even on routes thousands of miles from the conflict, including the transatlantic corridor between Northern Europe and the U.S. East Coast—which has no contact with Middle Eastern ports or Asian transit hubs—according to shipping data firm Xeneta. Chief Analyst Peter Sand said rates on that corridor have surged 56% since the end of February; routes with direct Middle East exposure have climbed even higher, with Far East to U.S. East Coast up 46% over the past month and Far East to U.S. West Coast up more than 50% since the war began. “The crisis is still very much present—it has simply migrated from the regional to the global,” Sand said. Saudi Aramco CEO calls Hormuz closure largest energy supply shock in history: Saudi Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser warned investors Monday that the Strait of Hormuz closure has caused “the largest energy supply shock the world has ever experienced,” with the market having lost roughly 880 million barrels net so far at a rate of 100 million barrels per week. “If the Strait of Hormuz opens today, it will still take months for the market to rebalance,” Nasser said. Aramco reported a 26% jump in first-quarter 2026 profits to $33.6 billion, driven by higher crude prices, and credited its East-West Pipeline—currently operating at maximum capacity of 7 million barrels per day—for allowing it to bypass Hormuz shipping disruptions entirely. Iran war has cost American consumers over $37 billion in extra fuel costs, Brown University tracker shows: American consumers have paid more than $37 billion in additional gasoline and diesel costs since the war with Iran began on February 28, according to a real-time tracker developed by Brown University’s Watson School of International and Public Affairs. JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs bet on Hormuz reopening by June, but warn buffers masking crisis are unsustainable: JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are increasingly anchoring their forecasts around a Strait of Hormuz reopening by June, an assumption now acting as the central pillar holding global oil markets together, according to reporting highlighted by HFI Research. JPMorgan’s base case targets reopening around June 1, while Goldman projects a gradual reopening finishing by late June, under which it sees Brent crude stabilizing before falling toward $90 per barrel by year’s end. The global economy has so far avoided a full-scale energy shock largely due to two temporary buffers: U.S. seaborne oil exports surged roughly 3.8 million barrels per day year-over-year over the past month, while China simultaneously slashed seaborne oil imports by 5.5 million barrels per day, apparently drawing down inventories rather than competing for supplies on global markets. HFI Research calculates those two shifts alone absorbed roughly 9.3 million of the 12.3 million barrels per day lost from Middle Eastern flows. Analysts warn, however, that neither buffer is sustainable long term and the system is increasingly fragile. U.S. makes largest-ever weekly petroleum release as Iran war depletes emergency reserves: The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve released more than 1.22 million barrels per day last week—roughly 8.6 million barrels total—the largest weekly drawdown in the reserve’s history, surpassing the peak rate seen during President Joe Biden’s 2022 release following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Bloomberg. Analysts at JPMorgan note that the entire coordinated International Energy Agency release of 400 million barrels across 32 nations amounts to just 15% of the supply lost from the Hormuz closure, which is cutting off roughly 100 million barrels per week. Iran says nuclear issue “will be discussed later,” endorses China’s four-point peace plan: Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Monday that Tehran’s peace proposal contained “reasonable and logical demands” serving the entire region, and that Iran is prioritizing an end to the war before addressing the nuclear question. “The uranium issue will be discussed at a later time,” Baghaei said at the ministry’s weekly press conference, adding that achieving peace across the region including Lebanon “is not an excessive demand.” On China, Baghaei said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s May 6 meeting with Wang Yi “was very fruitful” and that Iran welcomes any Chinese initiative to end the war. Iran’s ambassador to China separately announced Tehran’s formal endorsement Monday of President Xi Jinping’s four-point regional peace proposal—calling for peaceful coexistence, respect for national sovereignty, adherence to international law, and coordination between development and security—which Araghchi had previously described as “totally accurate.” UAE secretly struck Iran including oil refinery attack after ceasefire, WSJ reports: The United Arab Emirates carried out covert military strikes against Iran without publicly acknowledging the attacks, according to the Wall Street Journal. The strikes included an attack on a refinery on Iran’s Lavan Island in the Persian Gulf in early April—shortly after President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire—sparking a large fire and knocking much of the facility offline for months. Iran had attributed the strike to the UAE at the time and responded with missile and drone attacks on the UAE and Kuwait. Iran has launched more than 2,800 missiles and drones at the UAE during the war—more than against any other country except Israel. Israel sent Iron Dome batteries and personnel to UAE: Israel sent Iron Dome anti-missile batteries and personnel to operate them to the United Arab Emirates, according to U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. Speaking at an event in Tel Aviv on Monday, Huckabee said, “I’d like to say a word of appreciation for United Arab Emirates, the first Abraham accord member,” a reference to the UAE’s 2020 normalization agreement with Israel. “Just look at the benefits. Israel just sent them Iron Dome batteries and personnel to help operate them.” U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, repeated the same news on Monday and was quoted by Israel Hayom newspaper as saying, “We saw the UAE make use of the Iron Dome provided to it by Israel.” Lebanon Casualty count: At least 2,882 people have been killed, and 8,768 wounded in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since March 2, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Over 200 children were killed and 797 wounded in these attacks, the Ministry reports. At least 380 people have been killed since the “ceasefire” was announced on April 17. Israeli attacks continue on Tuesday: Israeli forces targeted a civil defense team in the city of Nabatieh, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said on Monday. The attack killed two paramedics and wounded a female medic while they were attempting to rescue an injured person, who later also died. The ministry condemned the strike and said it would continue documenting what it described as crimes that “do not expire with time.” In separate attacks on Tuesday, the town of Jibchit was hit by a series of drone strikes that killed three people and injured four others, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. Another drone strike targeted a motorcycle on the main road in Tayr Debba near Tyre, killing a Syrian national and injuring his wife. Overnight, Israeli warplanes also struck a house in Kfardounine, killing six and wounding seven. Israeli strikes kill at least 13 in southern Lebanon on Monday: Israeli airstrikes killed at least 13 people and wounded 38 more across southern Lebanon on Monday, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. A strike on the town of Abba destroyed a home, killing 78-year-old Najia Rammal and her 11-year-old grandson Fadl Tarhini and wounding four others; a separate strike on Jarjouaa killed two brothers, Ali and Nidal Moussa, and wounded one more. An Israeli drone strike on a house in Zibdin in southern Lebanon killed three people, including two Bangladeshi workers and a Syrian man working in the area, according to L’Orient Today. It was at least the second Israeli attack on Zibdin that day, after Israel also bombed a municipal van delivering bread, reportedly killing two municipal workers. The Israeli military issued forced displacement orders for nine areas in southern Lebanon, and separately reported that one Israeli soldier was killed in a Hezbollah drone strike and three others wounded in a booby-trapped drone explosion. The deaths on Monday follow over 80 killed over the weekend. UN sounds alarm as Israel carries out over 100 strikes on Lebanon in 24 hours: The Israeli military said on Tuesday it struck over 100 targets in Lebanon. UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher posted on X: “Over 100 strikes on Lebanon in 24 hours. Civilians killed. Families displaced…what people need most is a genuine ceasefire.” Strikes continued Monday evening across southern and eastern Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency and L’Orient Today: rescue teams recovered the bodies of Reda Jaber and his five-year-old son Mahdi in Kfartebnit following an earlier strike; a drone fired a guided missile at a car in Doueir, killing two people; and Israeli forces struck a health center in Srifa staffed by volunteers authorized by UNIFIL—the UN interim force in Lebanon—killing at least one rescue official and wounding five others. All strikes occurred despite a ceasefire agreement extended through May 17. Hezbollah claims 20 operations against Israeli forces Monday: Hezbollah said it carried out 20 operations against Israeli forces on Monday in response to continued ceasefire violations, claiming the destruction of a Merkava tank, two D9 bulldozers, a Humvee, engineering vehicles, and fuel tankers across the Rashaf, Naqoura, and Tayr Harfa axes. The group said it conducted a three-stage attack on Israeli forces in Taybeh, destroying a deployment site, and also struck a newly established Israeli command center and troop gatherings in Bayadha, shelled artillery positions in Adaisseh, and fired a surface-to-air missile at an Israeli drone over Tyre. Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel Casualty count: Over the last 24 hours, two Palestinians were killed and 10 were injured across Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,742 killed, with 172,565 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 856 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 2,463, while 770 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Israeli forces kill four Palestinians across Gaza on Monday: Israeli forces killed four Palestinians across Gaza on Monday, according to Felesteen Online citing Gaza’s Health Ministry and local sources. Two Palestinians were shot and killed in two separate incidents in Khan Younis and in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, both by Israeli troops positioned in eastern areas of the Strip. Medical crews also recovered the bodies of two Palestinians from the Netzarim junction area after both were struck by Israeli artillery. Israel kills Palestinian during raid on Qalandiya: Israeli forces killed a 30-year-old Palestinian man on Monday during a raid on Qalandiya refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, according to Al Jazeera. At least 44 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank in 2026, according to the United Nations. EU approves third settler sanctions package after Hungary drops 18-month veto: The EU Council of Foreign Ministers on Monday sanctioned Israeli far-right activist Daniela Weiss and several settler organizations—including the Nachala movement, Amana, Regavim, and Shomer Yesha—along with their directors, imposing entry bans, asset freezes, and prohibitions on financial activity in the EU, Haaretz reports. The package had been finalized since fall 2024 but was held up for 18 months by Hungary under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán; it is the EU’s third such sanctions round, following two earlier packages covering nine individuals and five organizations including Lehava and Tzav 9. The sanctions also targeted leading Palestinian resistance figures from Hamas; the movement’s Basem Naim condemned the move, telling Reuters it equates between a “fascist executioner who boasts of committing genocide and ethnic cleansing,” and its victim. Microsoft ousts Israel country manager, places branch under French oversight after probe into IDF surveillance ties: Microsoft last week abruptly removed Israel country manager Alon Haimovich and transferred the Israeli branch to operate under Microsoft France pending a permanent replacement, after an internal investigation found conduct that was “not transparent towards global management” and violated company terms of service, Israeli outlets Globes and Ynet report. The crisis traces to a Guardian investigation revealing that Israeli military intelligence Unit 8200 secretly built a mass surveillance system storing recordings of millions of Palestinian phone calls daily on Microsoft’s Azure servers in Europe—allegedly arranged through a 2021 personal meeting between CEO Satya Nadella and Unit 8200’s commander. Microsoft terminated Unit 8200’s usage agreement in September 2025, but the internal probe found Unit 8200 was only “the tip of the iceberg,” with additional Israel Defense Forces units discovered to have been using Microsoft systems without authorization. Palestinian detainees describe systematic sexual abuse in Israeli custody, NYT reports: Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli detention described systematic sexual violence and abuse at the hands of guards, in an article in the Opinion section of the New York Times by columnist Nicholas Kristof. Sami al-Sai, a 46-year-old Palestinian freelance journalist, said guards beat him, stripped him naked, and assaulted him with a carrot and a rubber baton while laughing, and that a female guard grabbed his genitals and mocked him; he told the Times he believed the abuse was partly intended to pressure him into becoming an informant. A Palestinian farmer held for months without charges under administrative detention said guards pinned him down, stripped him, and raped him with a metal baton while “laughing and cheering”—and that when he asked for pen and paper to file a complaint, guards returned to his cell, mocked him, and raped him twice more; days after speaking to reporters, the farmer withdrew permission to use his name after a visit from Shin Bet officers warning him not to “cause trouble.” A 23-year-old Palestinian woman said soldiers threatened to rape her, her mother, and her young niece during her arrest, and that male and female guards repeatedly stripped and groped her during shift changes; before her release, she said six officials threatened to rape and kill her and her father if she spoke publicly. A Palestinian journalist from Gaza said guards bound his genitals and beat them so severely he urinated blood for days, and said that while blindfolded and handcuffed he was sexually assaulted by a police dog while guards photographed the assault and laughed. Palestinian prisoner groups detail systematic torture, starvation in Israeli detention: Palestinian prisoner rights organizations published new testimonies Monday from Gaza detainees held in Israel’s Naqab and Ramla prisons, describing systematic torture, deliberate starvation, and denial of medical care. The Prisoner’s Club and Commission of Detainees Affairs said 1,283 Gaza detainees are held under the “unlawful combatant” classification without charge, shielding their detention from international oversight. NYT investigation finds Israel’s Eurovision popular vote wins may have been manipulated through coordinated voting campaigns: A New York Times investigation published Monday found that Israel won the Eurovision popular vote in 2025 in countries where polls show it is deeply unpopular, with a voting data analysis suggesting that only a few hundred people voting repeatedly could have tipped those results. Financial records show Israel spent over $1 million on Eurovision influence campaigns since 2018, including funds explicitly allocated for “vote promotion” from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hasbara—overseas propaganda—office. Five countries—Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, and Slovenia—are boycotting this year’s contest over Israel’s participation. Israeli Knesset approves tribunal for October 7 suspects in 93-0 vote: Israel’s Knesset voted 93-0 late Monday to establish a special tribunal empowered to impose the death penalty on Palestinians accused of involvement in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks, with the remaining 27 legislators absent or abstaining, Al Jazeera reports. Israeli and Palestinian rights groups warn the bill lowers legal protections to enable mass convictions, with Muna Haddad of Adalah—The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel telling Al Jazeera that the bill explicitly permits mass trials deviating from standard rules of evidence, including broad judicial discretion to admit evidence obtained under coercive conditions that may amount to torture. The bill mandates the public broadcasting of opening hearings, verdicts, and sentencing—a provision Haddad said “transforms proceedings into show trials.” The bill is separate from a law passed in March approving the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of “terrorism.” That law applies only to future cases and cannot be applied retroactively to October 7 suspects. Israel is currently holding an estimated 200–300 Palestinians from the October 7 attacks who have not yet been charged. Today’s Nebraska Primary By Julian Andreone, with Ryan Grim. Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email Andreone at [email protected]. Polls are open today in Nebraska, closing at 8 p.m. CST. All elections in the state require voter ID. Nebraska Senate race: A new survey by Tavern Research, a Democratic-leaning firm, has independent candidate Dan Osborn up 5 points over incumbent Republican Pete Ricketts, 47–42%. Among independent voters in Nebraska, Osborn is up 62–20%. Republican plant? Osborn and the Nebraska Democratic Party have accused Ricketts of covertly propping up three-time Trump-voter Bill Forbes in the Democratic primary today. Forbes is a pastor who has spent years involved in Republican politics, as a “plant” to run as a spoiler candidate who could weaken independent candidate Osborn’s path to victory in the general election. According to the Nebraska Examiner, Forbes has “sidestepped” the question of being “loyal” to Ricketts, and CNN reported that the pastor also attended a conservative leadership training hosted by the Nebraska Republican Party just months before jumping into the Democratic primary. Ricketts and his campaign deny any collusion. Clearing a path for Osborn: On the other hand, the New York Times reported Monday that Forbes’s opponent, pharmacy technician Cindy Burbank, who’s endorsed by the Nebraska Democratic Party, plans to drop out and clear a path for Osborn should she win, per a fundraising email sent out by Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party. Kleeb has called Forbes a “total liar,” an “anti-abortion conservative,” and the party has put $136,000 behind Burbank’s campaign. SCOOP from Julian Andreone: Chris Backemeyer, who spent 20 years as an official in the State Department and was an advisor to former Vice President Kamala Harris, is on the ballot today in Nebraska’s first congressional district. He has been campaigning on his diplomatic experience, touting his role as an architect of Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal. But declassified documents show that he spent the last decade rubber-stamping the architecture for humanitarian disasters in Gaza, Yemen, and Iran behind the scenes at the State Department. “I was part of the team that negotiated that deal, which was grounded in rigorous analysis and careful diplomacy,” Backemeyer wrote in a post on X the day the U.S. and Israel began bombing Iran. “I was also in government when Trump dismantled it—without the same level of scrutiny. I fear the same is true about this military operation.” Press guidance from the beginning of the first Trump presidency, however, shows that Backemeyer personally approved the rollout for Trump’s missile and terrorism sanctions against Iran after participating in the transition into the new administration. “I absolutely approved sanctions on Iran’s missile program and terrorist activities because those were never lifted under the nuclear deal and they remained, and continue to remain, a threat to the U.S.,” Backemeyer told Drop Site in response. Backemeyer, as Zeteo’s Prem Thakker recently outlined, has raised $350,000, as compared to the $50,000 his more progressive and populist opponent Eric Moyer has brought in, raking in swaths of big money from high-level government officials, like former Secretary of State Antony Blinken and former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and DC lobbyists. Perhaps most problematically, however, Backemeyer has raised money from former U.S. Gulf ambassadors, presenting an even further conflict of interests as it relates to his work facilitating the Saudi Arabian military brutality against the Yemeni people in 2019. DMFI’s waffle in NE-02: Democratic Majority for Israel, a group largely aligned with AIPAC, sought to buy ads on behalf of candidate Denise Powell, who has denied accepting contributions from the pro-Israel lobby, against her opponent John Cavanaugh, until they suddenly withdrew their ad buy when a Super PAC funded by the New Democrat Coalition, a centrist congressional caucus, increased its own. This appears to be the latest in a trend of of AIPAC funneling money into passthrough PACs to aligned candidates without attaching the increasingly toxic association with the pro-Israel lobby. Other U.S. News Consumer prices jump over soaring energy prices from Iran war: U.S. consumer prices climbed sharply again in April as the Iran war pushed energy prices higher. The consumer price index rose 3.8% from April 2025, according to data released by the Labor Department on Tuesday. Gasoline prices are up more than 28% compared to a year ago while food rose by 3.2%. “Inflation is the key drag on the U.S. economy now,” Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union told CNBC. “This is hurting Americans. There is a real financial squeeze underway. For the first time in three years, inflation is eating up all wage gains. This is a setback for middle-class and lower-income households and they know it.” Hamawy surges in New Jersey: An internal poll showed Adam Hamawy, an Army doctor who volunteered in Gaza, surging into the lead in the Democratic primary race in New Jersey’s 12th congressional district, rising in a month from 5 to 19% in a crowded field, Drop Site’s Ryan Grim reported. Sue Altman was in second with 12% and Brad Cohen at 11. Supreme Court clears path for Alabama to redraw voting map, reducing majority-Black districts: The Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for Alabama to use a new congressional voting map for the midterm elections that would reduce the state’s majority-Black districts from two to one, in a ruling that split along ideological lines with the court’s three liberal justices dissenting. The one-paragraph order sends the case back to a lower court to reconsider the current map—drawn by an independent special master and used in 2024—in light of the court’s recent decision raising the bar for Voting Rights Act challenges. That decision, issued in late April in a Louisiana case, held that challengers must now show strong evidence that lawmakers intended to racially discriminate, not merely gain a political advantage, to bring successful claims under the landmark 1965 law. Sixth Circuit rejects Trump’s mass immigration detention policy in latest appellate defeat: A divided panel of the Ohio-based Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s policy of detaining the vast majority of people it seeks to deport without offering a bond hearing—even those who have lived in the United States for decades without incident. The ruling is the latest in a series of appellate defeats for the administration on the issue, following similar decisions from the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit and the New York-based 2nd Circuit; two courts, the 5th and 8th Circuits, have sided with the administration, while the 7th Circuit deadlocked. More than 425 federal judges nationwide—including a majority of Trump appointees—have ruled against the expanded detention policy, while roughly 50, most appointed by Trump, have sided with the administration. The circuit split makes a Supreme Court review likely. Americans from hantavirus cruise ship now identified in at least 9 states: Eighteen Americans were evacuated from the MV Hondius—a Dutch cruise ship at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak—and flown to Nebraska on Monday after the vessel docked in Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands. Three passengers have died and at least nine cases have been confirmed, including one American who tested positive but is asymptomatic and another with mild symptoms. As states begin disclosing the locations of returning passengers, Drop Site contributor Jacqueline Sweet is independently tracking American passengers; she has so far identified residents from New York, Nevada, Washington state, and New Hampshire, in addition to seven who previously disembarked early and are being monitored in California, Texas, Virginia, Georgia, and Arizona—bringing the known total to at least nine states. Trump administration subpoenas Wall Street Journal reporters’ records in press freedom clash: The Wall Street Journal disclosed Monday that federal prosecutors had subpoenaed records of its reporters in connection with a February 23 article describing Pentagon officials’ warnings to President Donald Trump about the risks of a military campaign against Iran—an article that appeared days before the war began. The subpoenas, dated March 4, were issued by the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia, which has long served as a hub for classified information leak investigations due to its jurisdiction over the Pentagon and CIA headquarters. Trump nominates Cameron Hamilton to lead FEMA a year after firing him: President Donald Trump on Monday nominated Cameron Hamilton to serve as permanent administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency—roughly a year after firing him from the same role in an acting capacity. Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL, was dismissed in May 2025 after clashing with then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who administered a lie-detector test to agency staff she suspected of leaking to reporters; the day before his firing, Hamilton appeared to contradict Trump by telling a House subcommittee that FEMA should not be eliminated, as the president had threatened. Former mayor of LA suburb pleads guilty to acting as illegal agent of China: Eileen Wang, the former mayor of Arcadia—a wealthy suburb of Los Angeles—has agreed to plead guilty to one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government from late 2020 until 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday. Wang admitted she did not notify the U.S. government that she was acting on behalf of China while operating a website called the US News Center, which published pro-Beijing content while presenting itself as a news outlet for Chinese Americans. ICE contractor awarded $12 million no-bid surveillance deal appears to have fabricated executives, partnerships, and client testimonials: Edge Ops LLC, the company awarded a $12 million no-bid contract by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to build an AI surveillance tool tracking immigrants’ real-time locations and daily routines, appears to have fabricated or misrepresented key details about its leadership, partnerships, and clients, The Lever reported Monday. After The Lever first reported on the contract last month, Edge Ops scrubbed its website of all references to the program—called Project SAFE HAVEN—as well as details about its leadership and past clients. Read The Lever’s investigation here. Other International News Trump frustrated by failed efforts to destabilize Cuba, Pentagon updates contingency plans: President Donald Trump has grown increasingly frustrated that months of U.S. pressure have failed to bring down Cuba’s government, and has pressed advisers on why collapse has not materialized, NBC News reports. Some U.S. officials believe the Cuban government could fall by the end of 2026 without direct military intervention, but Trump views that timeline as too slow. The Pentagon has also begun updating contingency plans for possible military action against Cuba if ordered by the president, NBC says. Cuba’s deputy foreign minister says U.S. cannot find “credible excuse” for military aggression: Carlos Fernández de Cossío, Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, wrote Monday that Washington and “anti-Cuban politicians” have failed to justify either military action or the ongoing economic blockade against the island. “In spite of a well coordinated and financed effort, the US gov and the anti-Cuban politicians can’t find a credible let alone acceptable excuse for military aggression against Cuba,” he wrote, adding that even the energy and economic blockade is “difficult to excuse.” The statement comes as Cuba faces an acute energy and economic crisis stemming from the U.S. oil blockade, which Cossío has previously described as “a war” against the Cuban people. Greece investigates explosive-laden drone found off Lefkada coast: Greek authorities have launched an investigation after a long-range drone packed with explosives was discovered in a sea cave off the coast of Lefkada, The Guardian reports. Bomb disposal teams detonated the device at sea after a fisher found it. Officials believe it resembles a Ukrainian-made Magura V3 naval drone and suspect it drifted off course after operators lost control. Modi urges Indians to work from home, avoid gold purchases as energy prices strain foreign reserves: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday called for a sweeping set of conservation measures as surging global energy prices put pressure on the country’s foreign exchange reserves, Reuters reports. Modi urged a return to work-from-home and online meetings, wider use of public transport and carpooling, reduced cooking oil consumption, and cuts to fertilizer use by as much as half. He also asked Indians to avoid buying gold—a major expenditure during wedding season—and to forgo non-essential overseas travel for at least a year. Armed drones killed at least 880 civilians in Sudan during first four months of 2026, UN reports: Armed drones accounted for at least 880 civilian deaths in Sudan in the first four months of 2026—more than 80% of all conflict-related civilian fatalities—the UN Human Rights Office reported Monday. Prominent RSF field commander defects: Ali Rizq, a Rapid Support Forces (RSF) brigadier general widely known as “Al-Savanna,“ announced his formal defection from the Sudanese paramilitary group Monday in a video circulated on social media, saying he no longer had any relationship with the RSF and framing his departure as an alignment with the Sudanese people and a move toward peace and stability. EU and UK sanction dozens over Russia’s forced deportation and militarization of Ukrainian children: The European Union and United Kingdom imposed coordinated sanctions Monday on Russian institutions and officials accused of systematically deporting and indoctrinating Ukrainian children. The EU announced measures against 23 state institutions and individuals, while the UK unveiled a broader package targeting 85 people and entities, roughly a third of them linked to Russia’s campaign to forcibly deport and militarize Ukrainian children. Russia has deported and forcibly transferred nearly 20,500 Ukrainian children since launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022, the EU noted, calling the actions grave breaches of international law. South Africa’s parliament to establish impeachment committee to probe Ramaphosa over Farmgate scandal: South Africa’s lower house of parliament announced Monday it will establish an impeachment committee to investigate President Cyril Ramaphosa over the “Farmgate“ scandal, following a constitutional court ruling last week that parliament’s decision to block an inquiry four years ago was inconsistent with the constitution. The scandal centers on the 2020 theft of $4 million in foreign cash that had been stuffed inside a sofa at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala game farm, raising questions about how the money was acquired, whether it was declared, and why it was concealed in furniture rather than held in a bank. Haiti’s prime minister says gang violence makes August elections impossible: Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime said Monday that security conditions are not stable enough to hold presidential elections scheduled for August, as escalating gang clashes in Port-au-Prince forced hospitals to evacuate patients and hundreds of residents to flee their homes. Haiti has not held elections since 2016, and gang violence has displaced more than 1.4 million people nationwide according to the International Organization for Migration, with roughly 200,000 now living in overcrowded sites in the capital. Starmer consulting colleagues on future: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was consulting colleagues Tuesday about whether he can remain in office ahead of a crunch cabinet meeting, after ministerial aides quit and nearly 80 lawmakers from across Labour’s ideological spectrum publicly called for him to set a timetable for his departure. Rwanda-backed AFC/M23 rebels withdraw from key positions in eastern Congo: The Rwandan-backed AFC/M23 rebel group withdrew from several key positions in Congo’s eastern South Kivu province over the weekend, the Congolese army and a rebel official confirmed Monday—marking the first significant battlefield shift in months. Bolivian judge reissues arrest warrant for Morales: A Bolivian judge found former President Evo Morales in contempt of court Monday and reissued an arrest warrant after he failed to appear for the start of his trial in the southern city of Tarija on charges of trafficking a minor. Morales, Bolivia’s first Indigenous president, is accused of fathering a child with a 15-year-old girl while in office, with the girl’s parents accused of consenting to the relationship in exchange for favors; he has rejected the accusations. Philippine senator flees into parliament after ICC unseals arrest warrant over drug war killings: Philippine Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa, the former national police chief who oversaw the deadliest period o
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Iran says it seeks its “legitimate rights.” Iran proposal centers on an immediate ceasefire, sanctions relief, and guarantees against renewed attacks. Three tankers cross the Strait of Hormuz with trackers switched off. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says war “not over,” demands Iran’s enriched uranium be physically removed. UK and France deploy warships toward Hormuz as Iran warns of “decisive and immediate” response. President Donald Trump says Iran “defeated” but not done. Bahrain arrests 41 people over alleged IRGC ties. Israel using AI targeting system in Lebanon that experts warn cannot distinguish fighters from civilians. Hezbollah claims strikes on an Iron Dome battery and Israeli soldiers at Shlomi helicopter pad. Israeli reservist killed in drone strike near Lebanon border. Two Palestinians shot on Monday. Israeli strikes kill at least five across Gaza on Sunday, including Khan Younis police chief. Israel deports last two detained flotilla activists after nearly two weeks in custody. Israeli settlers force Palestinian family to exhume father’s body in occupied West Bank. U.S. military kills two in Pacific boat strike. Family of Florida State University shooting victim sues OpenAI. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro quietly working to block progressive candidate in Philadelphia primary. Virginia Supreme Court strikes down voter-approved Democratic redistricting plan. U.S. military carries out reconnaissance flights off Cuba’s coast. Armed militia kills at least 69 in eastern Congo. Israel built a secret military outpost in Iraq, WSJ reports. Vladimir Putin says war in Ukraine “coming to an end.” Attacks kill 21 police officers in northwestern Pakistan. Lebanese and Syrian leaders report “significant progress” in Damascus talks. Sudanese army strikes RSF positions in Nyala. Philippine VP Sara Duterte impeached, now faces Senate trial. FROM DROP SITE: Epstein Advised U.S. Treasury on Crypto During Obama’s Iran Sanctions Push. Drop Site is now live on WhatsApp. Get our latest reporting, podcasts, and breaking news, delivered directly. Join the channel here. STEAL THIS STORY!—A new documentary on legendary journalist Amy Goodman of Democrat Now! is out in theaters. The film, featuring Drop Site’s Jeremy Scahill and Sharif Abdel Kouddous, is a gripping account of this trailblazing journalist whose unwavering commitment to truth-telling spans three decades of turbulent history. Now playing in select theaters nationwide. Find a theater near you at stealthisstory.org This is Drop Site Daily, our free daily news recap. We send it Monday through Friday. Today’s edition is being sent to more than 750,000 subscribers. Help us grow that number by forwarding and recommending this newsletter. Subscribe now Lebanese women grieve over the bodies of nine people killed the day before in an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese village of Jibshit, during their funeral in the city of Sidon on May 10, 2026. Photo by Mahmoud Zayyat / AFP via Getty Images. Iran and Ceasefire Iran says it seeks its “legitimate rights” in response to U.S.: Iran and the United States remain at an impasse on Monday as a ceasefire that went into effect last month grows increasingly shaky. Iran sent its response to Washington’s latest proposal via Pakistani mediators on Sunday but President Donald Trump quickly rejected it in a social media post, calling it “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!” The ceasefire has been largely observed despite some exchanges of fire and reports of strikes in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran effectively blocked the strategic waterway after the U.S. and Israel launched the war in February. Since April 13, the U.S. military has blockaded Iranian ports, claiming it has turned back 61 commercial vessels and disabled four. Iran’s foreign ministry insisted Monday it was only seeking its rights. “We did not demand any concessions. The only thing we demanded was Iran’s legitimate rights,” said Ministry Spokesman Esmael Baghaei in a weekly press briefing, as reported by Iranian news agency Tasnim. “The American side still insists on its one-sided views and unreasonable demands.” Tehran’s proposal included, “Demanding an end to the war, lifting the blockade and piracy, and releasing Iranian assets that have been unjustly frozen in banks due to U.S. pressure,” Baghaei said. “Safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz and establishing security in the region and Lebanon were other demands of Iran, which are considered a generous and responsible offer for regional security.” Iran proposal centers on immediate ceasefire, sanctions relief, and guarantees against renewed attacks: Iranian media and regional outlets reported Sunday that Tehran’s response to the latest U.S. proposal centers on an immediate end to the war and binding guarantees against renewed attacks on Iran and the wider region, with a ceasefire in Lebanon described by diplomatic sources cited by Al Mayadeen as a “red line” in negotiations. According to Tasnim, Tehran’s proposal calls for an immediate end to the war, guarantees against renewed aggression, lifting of U.S. sanctions, ending the maritime blockade, removal of OFAC restrictions on Iranian oil sales within 30 days, release of frozen Iranian assets within 30 days, and Iranian management and oversight of Strait of Hormuz transit. An Iranian official source told Al Jazeera the response was “realistic and positive,” proposing 30 additional days of negotiations after the war ends to finalize details and calling for reciprocal steps to test Washington’s seriousness, adding that negotiations “could move quickly if the U.S. responds positively.” Second Qatari tanker crossing Strait of Hormuz through Iran-approved route: A second Qatari LNG tanker is transiting the Strait of Hormuz days after the first such vessel crossed under an arrangement involving Iran and Pakistan, according to LSEG shipping data seen by the Reuters. The vessel left Qatar’s Ras Laffan and is heading northeast toward Port Qasim in Pakistan, where it is expected to arrive tomorrow. This comes after an LNG tanker, Al Kharaitiyat, managed to cross the strait on Sunday through the Iranian-approved northern route. Three tankers cross Strait with trackers switched off: Three tankers carrying crude oil have transited the Strait of Hormuz with their trackers switched off to avoid Iranian attacks, according to Reuters, which cited shipping data from Kpler and LSEG. Two very large crude carriers, each carrying 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude, reportedly exited the strait on Sunday. A third tanker, with 2 million barrels of crude from Abu Dhabi National Oil Co’s Zirku terminal, exited the strait on Wednesday. Netanyahu says war “not over,” demands Iran’s enriched uranium be physically removed: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday the war with Iran is “not over,” telling CBS News’ 60 Minutes that Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile must be physically extracted and its enrichment facilities dismantled before any resolution can be considered complete, and claimed President Donald Trump had privately expressed a desire to “go in there” to retrieve the material. International monitors estimate Iran holds roughly 970 pounds of near-weapons-grade uranium, which Netanyahu said U.S.-Israeli operations had “degraded” but not eliminated. Netanyahu also claimed that Israel has “gained much” from its wars, transforming itself from being “on the verge of extermination, of annihilation” into the dominant military power in the Middle East. He said Israel dismantled much of Iran’s regional “terror axis” and predicted deeper alliances with Arab states. Asked if Israel’s military actions in Gaza or Lebanon contributed to collapsing U.S. and international support, Netanyahu said “mistakes” occur in war, and civilians sometimes die unintentionally. UK and France deploy warships toward Hormuz as Iran warns of “decisive and immediate” response: Britain is deploying HMS Dragon, a Type 45 air-defense destroyer, to the Middle East to pre-position for a potential multinational mission to protect shipping through the Strait of Hormuz—but only once hostilities between the U.S., Israel, and Iran have ended—while France has deployed its Charles de Gaulle carrier strike group to the Red Sea, Reuters reported. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said dozens of nations are ready to contribute to the operation, which both he and French President Emmanuel Macron stressed would be strictly defensive and independent of the U.S.-Israeli war. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister warned Sunday that the presence of French, British, or any other nation’s warships accompanying U.S. forces in the strait “will be met with a decisive and immediate response from Iran’s armed forces,” according to Fars News Agency, after which Macron clarified at a press conference in Nairobi that France has “never considered” a deployment to the strait itself and that any joint mission—backed by around 50 countries—would proceed in coordination with Iran and only when conditions allow. Iran denies oil spill near Kharg Island despite satellite imagery showing slick covering 52 square kilometers: Iran’s Oil Terminals Company denied any leak near Kharg Island on Sunday, saying field inspections and lab tests found “not even the smallest trace” of leakage, even as satellite imagery from the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Programme showed a slick covering up to 52 square kilometers drifting west and south of the island between May 6 and 8. Estimates of the spill’s size vary from 3,000 to 80,000 barrels, while its origin remains unconfirmed. Theories including a rupture in aging undersea pipelines connecting to the Abuzar oil field, ballast water discharge from foreign tankers as some Iranian lawmakers claimed, or storage overflow at Kharg Island, through which 90% of Iran’s oil exports flow, with tanks reportedly near capacity due to U.S. blockade-related shipping bottlenecks. Trump says Iran “defeated” but not done: President Donald Trump said Sunday he held a “very nice” call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Washington reviewed Iran’s response to a U.S. proposal on ending the war. Trump declared Iran had been “defeated” militarily while stopping short of saying combat operations were over. “They are defeated, but that doesn’t mean they are done,” Trump said, claiming roughly 70% of U.S. targets in Iran had been hit and adding: “We could go in for two more weeks and do every single target.” Iran executes man on espionage charges: Iranian authorities on Monday executed another man on charges of espionage, the state-run Mehr news agency said. Erfan Shakourzadeh, 29, was hanged after being convicted for collaborating with the CIA and the Mossad. He is the fifth person to be executed on espionage charges since the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran in late February. Bahrain arrests 41 people over alleged IRGC ties: Bahrain’s Interior Ministry announced Saturday the arrest of 41 people accused of belonging to a group linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, saying legal proceedings are underway in connection with earlier investigations into espionage and expressions of support for Iranian attacks during the war. The arrests are the latest in a series of crackdowns: Bahraini authorities carried out earlier rounds of IRGC-linked arrests in March, and in late April stripped the citizenship of 69 people accused of sympathizing with Iran, a move the London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy described as a violation of international law. The UAE has similarly arrested dozens of alleged Iran-linked group members since the outbreak of conflict, with both Gulf states among those targeted by Iranian missile and drone strikes during the war. Lebanon Weekend attacks: Over 70 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon over the weekend, with 51 killed on Saturday and 23 on Sunday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, bringing the total death toll since March 2 to 2,869, including at least 108 medical workers. At least 8,730 people have been wounded. Saturday: At least 51 people were killed in Lebanon on Saturday after a sweeping wave of Israeli attacks across southern Lebanon and parts of the Beqaa Valley, according to Al Jazeera. Israeli forces struck more than 50 locations through airstrikes, drone attacks, artillery shelling, and demolition operations, according to journalist Courtney Bonneau. The attacks hit areas across the Nabatieh and Tyre districts in particular, including Nabatieh, Harouf, Kfar Tebnit, Al-Mansouri, Majdal Selm, and Burj Rahal, while Israeli forces also carried out demolitions of civilian homes and infrastructure in border towns including Mais Al-Jabal, Aitaroun, Yaroun, Al-Khiam, and Kfarkela. One victim, a 12-year-old girl, was reportedly targeted in three separate strikes on Saturday, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency, and died after succumbing to injuries. Sunday: Israeli drones carried out six strikes across southern Lebanon in a three-hour window early Sunday, hitting Qalaway, Deir Qanoun El-Nahr, Sama’iyeh, Rmadiyeh, Qlayleh, and Nabatieh, according to Press TV journalist Hadi Hoteit reporting from the south. Among those struck were a paramedic team in Qalaway, agricultural workers in a field in Deir Qanoun El-Nahr, and two Syrian nationals on a motorcycle in Qlayleh. Separate large-scale airstrikes hit entire town centers in Jibchit, Doueir, Nabatieh’s Christian neighborhood, and Rzay. Hoteit described what he called a new and indiscriminate pattern of attack, saying “Israeli drones lock on an area and just start attacking anything moving or present or ‘suspicious’ without any filtering.” The country’s health ministry later confirmed that two paramedics were killed in Sunday’s attacks. Israel using AI targeting system in Lebanon that experts warn cannot distinguish fighters from civilians: Israel’s military is using an AI-powered targeting system to track and kill individuals in Lebanon that experts warn cannot reliably discern between fighters and civilians, the Los Angeles Times reported this week. The system draws from phone metadata, facial recognition, drone surveillance, SIM card tracking, and social media, processed through platforms including Palantir’s Maven, and generates target profiles in seconds—work a senior Israeli military AI official told the Times once required hundreds of analysts and weeks of effort. Experts flagged two core concerns: that the system identifies threats through behavioral patterns rather than direct evidence of combatant activity, meaning relatives, financiers, and administrators are routinely flagged because their communications resemble those of fighters; and that the system can only pattern-match rather than reason, meaning flawed input data produces the same lethal errors repeated at scale, with no human stopping to question the output. Hezbollah claims strikes on Iron Dome battery and Israeli soldiers at Shlomi helicopter pad: Hezbollah’s military wing released footage Sunday claiming a strike on an Iron Dome air defense platform and its crew at the Jal al-Alam border site across two separate attack maneuvers on May 7–8, and a separate strike on a gathering of Israeli soldiers at a helicopter landing pad in the Shlomi area of northern Israel on May 9, with a combat helicopter visible overhead at the time of the attack. Lebanese PM calls Bint Jbeil “a version of Gaza”: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said on Sunday that Bint Jbeil, the town in southern Lebanon which Israeli forces have laid siege to, “has become a version of Gaza,” according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. In the same remarks, Salam also discussed negotiations to end the war, noting that Beirut is demanding a clear timetable for Israeli withdrawal during talks. He said Lebanon was “dragged” into the Iran-U.S. confrontation and estimated that 68 Lebanese villages are now under Israeli control. Israeli reservist killed in drone strike near Lebanon border, 18th soldier killed since March: An Israeli soldier was killed Saturday in an explosive drone strike inside Israel near the Lebanon border, Kan News reported—the 18th Israeli soldier killed since the current round of fighting began on March 2. Palestine Casualty count: Over the last 24 hours, three Palestinians were killed and 16 were injured across Gaza. The total recorded death toll since October 7, 2023 has risen to 72,740 killed, with 172,555 injured. Since October 11, the first full day of the so-called ceasefire, Israel has killed at least 854 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 2,453, while 770 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Two Palestinians shot on Monday: Two Palestinians were shot by Israeli forces on Monday morning in Gaza, according to WAFA. A child was injured by Israeli gunfire in the Al-Atatra area west of Beit Lahia and a young man was wounded near Al-Samer junction in Gaza City. Israel launches wave of strikes on Saturday: On Saturday evening, an Israeli drone struck an electric bicycle in the Falluja area of Jabalia refugee camp, killing one person and wounding others, according to local media. At least one more person was killed in an Israeli strike in Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza. Gaza’s Health Ministry reported on Saturday morning 5 people recorded killed and 15 wounded in the previous 48 hours across Gaza, including four newly killed and one body recovered from beneath rubble. Gaza’s Civil Defense said Israeli forces struck more than 32 residential buildings in Shati refugee camp on the western edge of Gaza City on Saturday, following evacuation warnings to residents, displacing dozens of families and causing widespread destruction. Six people were wounded, including a child, when Israeli forces struck the home of the Al-Adm family after the evacuation orders. Israeli strikes kill at least five across Gaza on Sunday, including Khan Younis police chief: Israeli drone strikes killed at least five people across Gaza on Sunday, including Lieutenant Colonel Wissam Fayez Abd al-Hadi, head of the Khan Younis police criminal investigations unit, and Sergeant Fadi Abd al-Muati Haikal, whose vehicle was struck in the Al-Amal neighborhood west of Khan Younis, according to Gaza’s Interior Ministry. Two more people were killed in a separate strike on a civilian jeep near a reconstruction center in the same area, and a drone strike near the Maki roundabout in Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza killed one person and wounded others. Additional Israeli military activity Sunday included artillery shelling of eastern Al-Qarara and northeastern Al-Bureij camp, heavy quadcopter drone fire near the port area west of Gaza City, naval gunboat fire toward the city’s shore, and the demolition of several residential and civilian buildings in eastern Gaza City in the early morning hours. Israel deports last two detained flotilla activists after nearly two weeks in custody: Israel deported Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish national of Palestinian origin, and Brazilian Thiago Ávila on Sunday after holding them for nearly two weeks following the Israeli navy’s interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters off Crete on April 30, with the pair arriving in Athens after Israel’s Foreign Ministry said they had been released following an investigation. Abu Keshek had been on a dry hunger strike, and Swedish consular officials had reported he was subjected to threats, psychological abuse, violent transfers, and prolonged blindfolding during his detention. Israel claimed he was suspected of affiliation with a “terrorist” organization and that Ávila was suspected of illegal activity—allegations both denied, saying they were on a humanitarian mission and their arrest in international waters was unlawful. Spain, Brazil, and the United Nations had all called for their swift release. Palestinian security force claims ambush of Israeli collaborator militia in Khan Younis: The Radaa force in Gaza said it killed three members of an Israeli-backed Palestinian militia led by Husam al-Astal in an ambush south of Khan Younis on May 6. Al-Astal is a former Palestinian Authority security officer with alleged Israeli intelligence ties dating to the 1990s who was accused of orchestrating the 2018 assassination of Palestinian scientist Fadi al-Batsh in Malaysia. Israeli court freezes demolition of 50 Palestinian facilities in al-Eizariya linked to E1 settlement road: Israeli authorities notified around 50 Palestinians to evacuate shops and commercial facilities at the entrance to al-Eizariya, east of occupied Jerusalem, before Sunday morning, but the Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center secured a court order freezing the demolitions, Anadolu Agency reported. The demolitions are tied to Israeli plans for a “Sovereignty Road” between al-Eizariya and al-Zayim that would fully close the E1 corridor—the main artery connecting the northern and central West Bank to the south—to Palestinians. Israeli settlers force Palestinian family to exhume father’s body in occupied West Bank: Israeli settlers, reportedly under military protection, forced a Palestinian family in Asasa village near Jenin to dig up their father’s body and rebury him elsewhere shortly after his burial Friday, with the United Nations condemning the act as “appalling and emblematic of the dehumanisation of Palestinians.” Hussein Asasa, 80, died of natural causes and was buried in the village cemetery after his family coordinated the burial in advance with Israeli security forces and obtained all necessary permits, but settlers shortly afterward threatened to use a bulldozer to exhume the body themselves, claiming the cemetery land was part of an Israeli settlement. Israeli settlers launch wave of West Bank raids, torching homes and attacking a Palestinian child: Israeli settlers carried out a fresh wave of attacks across the occupied West Bank on Friday, torching a home in al-Lubban Asharqiya south of Nablus, burning a vehicle and writing racist slogans on homes in Abu Falah northeast of Ramallah, and attacking a man and his child with sharp instruments in Khirbet Shuweika south of Hebron, hospitalizing both with head injuries. Settlers also attacked a Palestinian man in Beit Fajjar south of Bethlehem and stole his phone, while Israeli forces fired stun grenades at Palestinians picnicking near Solomon’s Pools south of Bethlehem and tear gas and sound bombs at worshippers leaving a mosque in Tuqu southeast of Bethlehem. U.S. News By Julian Andreone, with Ryan Grim. Have a tip on Capitol Hill? Email Andreone at [email protected]. U.S. military kills two in Pacific boat strike: The U.S. military conducted a strike against a boat in the Eastern Pacific on Friday, killing two people, according to U.S. Southern Command. SOUTHCOM posted a video of the strike and said, “Two male narco-terrorists were killed during this action” without providing evidence. Over 190 people have been killed in dozens of U.S. strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific since September. Family of Florida State University shooting victim sues OpenAI: The widow of Tiru Chabba, one of two people killed in the April 2025 mass shooting at Florida State University, filed a federal lawsuit against OpenAI on Sunday alleging that ChatGPT enabled the attack by failing to detect threatening intent in extensive conversations with accused shooter Phoenix Ikner. According to the complaint, Ikner shared images of firearms with ChatGPT, discussed his interest in Hitler, Nazism, and past mass shootings over several months, and asked the chatbot about peak hours at the FSU student union. OpenAI said ChatGPT “provided factual responses to questions with information that could be found broadly across public sources” and did not encourage illegal activity, but the lawsuit argues the chatbot “flattered” and “praised” Ikner while failing to connect the dots as he raised questions about suicide, terrorism, media coverage of shootings, and legal consequences—part of a growing wave of litigation alleging AI chatbots played a role in real-world violence. Pennsylvania Gov. Shapiro quietly working to block progressive candidate in Philadelphia primary: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) is privately working to derail Chris Rabb, a progressive state lawmaker from Philadelphia backed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), ahead of a May 19 Democratic primary for a U.S. House seat, Axios reported. Shapiro has not publicly endorsed a candidate but has privately told allies he disapproves of Rabb and has advised Philadelphia’s building trades unions—which back center-left candidate Sharif Street—to avoid running negative ads against a third contender, Ala Stanford, which political insiders say is designed to prevent vote-splitting that could benefit Rabb. A recent poll shows Rabb trailing Stanford by just five points in a race whose Democratic primary winner is all but certain to win the deep-blue seat in November. Virginia Supreme Court strikes down voter-approved Democratic redistricting plan: The Virginia Supreme Court ruled 4-3 Friday to strike down a voter-approved Democratic congressional redistricting plan, finding the Democratic-led legislature violated procedural requirements when it placed the constitutional amendment on the ballot by casting its initial vote after early voting had already begun in the 2025 general election. The ruling renders null a vote narrowly approved by Virginians on April 21 that Democrats had hoped would deliver as many as four additional U.S. House seats. Virginia Democrats announced they intend to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court—a longshot bid, as the nation’s highest court typically defers to state courts on interpretations of their own constitutions. Trump to visit Beijing May 13–15: President Donald Trump will travel to Beijing from May 13 to 15 at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, China’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Monday, marking the first visit by a U.S. president to China in nearly nine years. Trump will attend a bilateral meeting with Xi on Thursday, visit the Temple of Heaven, and attend a state dinner, accompanied by Melania Trump and a delegation of American executives including representatives from Boeing and Mastercard. The agenda spans trade, technology, Taiwan, rare earth export controls, artificial intelligence, and the Iran war, according to CNBC, with pre-summit trade talks between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng scheduled in South Korea on May 12 and 13. Other International News U.S. military carries out reconnaissance flights off Cuba’s coast: The U.S. Navy and Air Force have conducted at least 25 intelligence-gathering flights off the coast of Cuba since February 4, most of them near Havana and Santiago de Cuba and some coming within 40 miles of the coast, a CNN analysis of publicly available aviation data showed—a sudden surge with no precedent in recent years. The aircraft involved include P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol planes, RC-135V Rivet Joint signals intelligence aircraft, and MQ-4C Triton high-altitude drones—the same platforms that conducted surveillance ahead of U.S. special forces’ capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and ahead of joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran. CNN noted that a similar pattern of escalating rhetoric coinciding with a visible uptick in surveillance flights preceded both of those operations, and that the aircraft are capable of masking their location beacons but have not done so, raising the question of whether the flights constitute a deliberate signal to Havana. Thailand’s former prime minister released from prison: Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, 76, was released Monday from Klong Prem Central Prison in Bangkok after serving eight months of a one-year sentence on corruption-related charges. He was greeted by hundreds of supporters, family members, and political allies. Thaksin dominated Thai politics for a quarter-century before a military coup toppled him in 2006 while he was abroad. He returned from 15 years in self-exile in 2023 to face an eight-year sentence for abuse of power, later commuted to one year by Thailand’s king—much of which he spent in the VIP wing of a hospital. Shinawatra will wear an electronic ankle monitor for the remainder of his sentence. Armed militia kills at least 69 in eastern Congo: Armed fighters affiliated with the CODECO coalition of militia groups killed at least 69 people, including 19 militia members and soldiers, in retaliatory attacks on several villages in Ituri province in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo on April 28, according to reporting from the AFP. CODECO claims to protect the Lendu ethnic group in the region, which has been locked in a long-running violent conflict with its Hema neighbors in the gold-rich province bordering Uganda and South Sudan. The UN stabilization mission MONUSCO said it had rescued nearly 200 people caught in the crossfire and issued a statement “strongly condemning” the escalating violence in the region. Israel built a secret military outpost in Iraq, WSJ reports: Israel constructed a clandestine military outpost in Iraq’s western desert to support its air campaign against Iran and launched airstrikes against Iraqi soldiers who nearly discovered it in early March, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, citing U.S. and other officials familiar with the matter. The base, built just before the war began, housed Israeli special forces and served as a logistical hub for the Israeli air force. The installation was built with U.S. knowledge and was nearly exposed after a local shepherd reported unusual helicopter activity, prompting Iraqi troops to investigate at dawn. These troops came under intense fire that killed one soldier and wounded two, after which Iraq lodged a formal complaint with the UN. Putin says war in Ukraine “coming to an end”: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday he believes the war in Ukraine is “coming to an end” and expressed willingness to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a third country—the first time he has made such an offer. Russia and Ukraine agreed to a three-day ceasefire, which Trump announced in a Truth Social post on Friday, as well as to a reciprocal exchange of 1,000 prisoners each. The ceasefire is scheduled to expire today. Attacks kill 21 police officers in northwestern Pakistan: A car bombing at a police post, followed by an intense firefight, killed at least 21 officers in the Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday, with the Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan, a possible splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban, claiming responsibility for the attack. Three wounded people remain hospitalized, according to Al Jazeera. Lebanese and Syrian leaders report “significant progress” in Damascus talks: Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said Saturday that talks with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus produced “significant progress” on security, transport, infrastructure, economic matters, and the release of more than 2,000 Syrian prisoners held in Lebanese jails. On the last of these in particular: “We discussed continuing efforts to address the issue of detained Syrians,” in Lebanon, Salam said, “and to uncover the fate of the missing and forcibly detained in both countries.” Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodriguez travels to The Hague: Acting President of Venezuela Delcy Rodriguez arrived at The Hague Sunday to represent Venezuela at the International Court of Justice in its long-running land dispute with Guyana over the oil-rich Essequibo region. This trip is Rodriguez’s first trip abroad since President Nicolás Maduro was abducted by U.S. forces in January. Sudanese army strikes RSF positions in Nyala: The Sudanese army launched drone strikes against Rapid Support Forces (RSF) positions in Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, for the second consecutive day Sunday, with at least three explosions reported by the Sudan Tribune. The strikes coincided with a reported visit from RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, and several senior leaders to the city, which the RSF has designated as the capital of its parallel “Foundation Government.” In related news, an RSF defector and former commander outlined in a press conference last week the ways the United Arab Emirates supports the militia, alleging that the UAE provides the group with training, supplies it with weapons, and more. His remarks, translated by Middle East Eye, are available here. Philippine VP Sara Duterte impeached, now faces Senate trial: The Philippine House of Representatives voted 257–25 on Monday to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte, surpassing the threshold needed to send the case to the Senate. The charges against Duterte include misuse of confidential government funds, failure to disclose wealth, bribery, unexplained financial transactions, and threats against a political rival. Duterte denies the allegations and her legal team says it is ready to mount a defense before the Senate impeachment court. If convicted by the Senate, Duterte would be blocked from a widely expected 2028 run for the country’s leadership. More: Today marks the fourth anniversary of the killing of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by an Israeli sniper in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. On May 11, 2022, Abu Akleh was shot by the Israeli military in broad daylight, while wearing a helmet and flak jacket emblazoned with the word “Press” on it, walking on a street near the entrance of the Jenin refugee camp, with no crossfire in the area. While the incident was captured on video and supported by the eyewitness testimony of her colleagues, no one was held accountable in her death. Despite Abu Akleh being a U.S. citizen, President Biden refused to meet with her family and the U.S. adopted Israel’s narrative of her death. An FBI investigation into her killing has stalled. On Thursday, the Committee to Protect Journalists sent a letter to the Justice Department urging “transparency on the status and timeline for a seemingly languishing investigation into the killing of Abu Akleh.” CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah said in a statement that, “The killing of Shireen Abu Akleh and the subsequent failure to hold anyone responsible is not an isolated tragedy; it is a symptom of a systematic failure to protect journalists that has now reached a breaking point.” She added, “The prevailing culture of complete impunity enjoyed by Israel is a direct factor in the continued targeting of journalists without deterrence.” Watch an in-depth investigation of Abu Akleh’s killing and her family’s fight for accountability by Drop Site’s Middle East North Africa editor Sharif Abdel Kouddous with Laila al-Arian and Kavitha Chekuru for Fault Lines. Watch the video here. If you want to continue getting this newsletter, you don’t have to do anything. But if this is too much—we do try to be mindful of your inbox—you can unsubscribe from this newsletter while continuing to get the rest of our reporting. Just go into your account here at this link, scroll down, and toggle the button next to “Drop Site Daily” to the off setting. It looks like this: Subscribe now Leave a comment From Drop Site News via This RSS Feed.
Komunitas
lemmy.world
Paws Because yinrih are quadrupeds, gestures involving the paws and legs are less common, but some do exist. In the Allied Worlds, the act of jamming the pad of the outer thumb into the ground, sometimes called “the one-digit stomp” is a vulgar gesture similar to the middle finger. It imitates crushing an insect, and is used to express contempt. On Hearthside, however, the gesture has a neutral to positive connotation similar to a thumbs-up. The origin of this usage is unclear, although the most common explanation given by Hearthsiders themselves is that it represents decisively pressing a button. It usually means something along the lines of “I’m on it” or “I got you covered”. Hearthsider pups, particularly in larger cosmopolitan urban centers, who have grown up watching media produced in the Allied Worlds have begun interpreting the gesture in line with its use there. How one uses it and perceives its use by others has become an inter-generational shibboleth, with older generations and less urban folk lamenting the new negative perception as more AW cultural imperialism. A more niche gesture used in communities where yinrih and humans interact frequently involves lifting a rear paw and making a grasping or twiddling motion with the digits. This is specific to inter-species interactions. It’s meant to highlight the anatomical differences between the two species, and especially the sometimes drastically different ergonomics and architecture that result from those differences. Intent can be anything from mocking to empathetic depending on context. For an empathetic example, an exhausted human is staring up into the entrance to a building, which is a hatch through the floor accessed by climbing a ladder. An elderly yinrih walks up beside him, smells his exasperation, and makes the gesture in response. She climbs ahead of him, then offers a paw to help pull him up. For a mocking example, a group of pups is leaping and brachiating around a play structure. A human child is struggling to keep up, and one of the pups mocks him by making the gesture and bounding off without helping. In both cases the gesture means something like “this world wasn’t built for people with only two prehensile extremities,” and the follow up actions make it clear whether it’s meant as an expression of solidarity or ridicule. There is a coordinate gesture that humans perform, briefly picking the feet up off the ground as if jogging in place, that expresses a similar sentiment to yinrih living on Earth. In this case it means “This world wasn’t built for people without two dedicated grasping appendages and superior stamina.” As for why these gestures exist, yinrih and humans can’t directly produce the other species’ speech sounds. While it’s ideal for both parties to know the other’s language, or for one party to have access to a synth to generate the language if the other isn’t bilingual, this isn’t always the case, and such specific body language has developed to help fill this gap. Head It’s more common for yinrih to express themselves using the head and tail while the legs are busy bearing their weight. Yinrih point with their snout rather than their paws. This usually involves simply looking in the desired direction, but when indicating something behind them, a yinrih will quickly toss their head to the side. Tracing an upward half-circle with the muzzle is similar to rolling the eyes, but it can also be a similar pointing gesture meaning “all around us” A quick upward movement of the snout shows affirmation or agreement. One or more quick dips of the head indicates respect. This gesture is associated with more pious or traditional culturees like Hearthside. Yinrih have well developed whiskers, they often twitch to indicate intense interest, though this is more an unconscious reaction than a deliberate gesture. Panting is the principle way yinrih keep cool, and is an involuntary reaction to high ambient temperatures. Panting may also be imitated consciously to show discomfort. This is usually exaggerated, with the tongue lolling out of the side of the mouth rather than simply protruding slightly. Repeatedly rapidly licking the nose and lips also indicates discomfort with one’s surroundings or situation, like a human wringing the hands. Ears A flick of the left ear is similar to a sly wink. Flicking the right ear is used to show annoyance or aggravation. Flicking or sweeping both ears back is similar to a shrug. Pinning the ears back can express hostility or anger. Doing so while lowering the head and closing the eyes shows apprehension. Perking the ears up, like whisker twitching, is more an involuntary reaction to intense interest. Perking the ears while opening the eyes wide (with lids and all four bandpass membranes open wide) is like a goofy smile or excited grin. Tail Flicking one’s own side with the tip of the tail is like a dismissive hand wave. It can mean “don’t bother me” or “go away” but also “don’t concern yourself with that” or “never you mind”. It’s where tailstone got its name. When asked how this magenta crystal allowed instant communication over arbitrarily large distances the inventor just responded with this gesture. Flicking someone else’s side with the tip of the tail is an extremely vulgar gesture. It means more or less the same as the one-digit stomp described above, but has the added insult of invading the other person’s personal space. It conveys that the flickee is a nuisance but is easily “dealt with”. Thumping the tail on the ground repeatedly can be a threat, like a gorilla beating its chest, but it can also be done when extremely anxious or stressed. Body Rearing up on the hind feet and patting the belly twice with the left forepaw is like a handshake. IMPORTANT: you pat your own belly in response, not the other person’s. It’s not an invitation to a tummy rub. Many humans have found themselves on the wrong side of an assault charge this way. That being said, the gesture does convey a similar sentiment as a dog exposing its belly, to show you’re opening up to the other person and trust them not to take advantage of your weakness. Lying down flat on the belly with the legs and head flat on the floor, AKA “splooting” is similar to genuflecting or kneeling. Now for something completely different All the other planets have interesting hooks to them. Hearthside is tidally locked, Sweetwater is an ocean world. Yih has a ring and is the cradle of life at Focus, Welkinstead has cloud cities, and Moonlitter is nearly uninhabitable itself but has a bunch of moons. But Newhome doesn’t have anything other than being the first terraformed planet. Perhaps Newhome’s hook is that nearly the entire population lives in a single giant archology that’s also a speace elevator. Here’s how I see this panning out. Because Newhome was first, it’s also the worst. The tech used to maintain its biosphere is both ancient and hard to replace. Some time in the past, the thought of that infrastructure breaking down caused a demographic crisis as people fled what they thought was an iminant disaster and those that stayed often chose not to have a litter. But much like the population bomb that mid-20th century humans were sure was coming, the collapse never happened, and centuries of low fertility left a permanent mark on Newhome culture. Even in the midst of prosperity, new litters are a rare sight. Alternatively, the catastrophe did happen and the planet’s biosphere is breaking down, with the archology being located in the last fertile region. Either way, population densities across the planet plummeted, and those that remained gathered in the largest city. This city evolved into a single giant archology built around an existing space elevator. The building is unfathomably massive, stretching miles into the sky and rooted miles under the earth. Because the building was not constructed all at once, it’s a hodgepodge of different architectural styles and tech levels mashed together. Some sections are so dense people are packed paw on tail, while other areas are almost or completely abandoned. People, on four legs or two, who love exploring massive indoor areas love poking around the less-traveled sections. The building is so huge that different parts have their own microclimates. In fact, the building may not be one building but two, with the other located at the antipodes with a tunnel connecting them running through the core of the planet.
Komunitas
hexbear.net
#The Houdini Line: Our Post-Election Statement and Goals My friends, brothers, sisters, comrades, today we face a moment that will test us all. It’s the kind of moment that comes once in a generation. As you know, Donald Trump has won the presidency again, and there’s no sugarcoating it—things are about to get harder for working people, for women, for our LGBTQ comrades, and for every community that’s been pushed to the margins of this country. And what have we seen from the so-called opposition? The Democratic Party—the party that was supposed to be for the people—has shifted so far right that they’re promising walls and advancing genocide. They’ve got no vision, no courage, and no heart for the people. They don’t want to fight for you; they want to fight over who gets to hold the reins of power. But let me tell you, folks: the people who hold that power don’t care about you or me. They don’t care about us any more than they care about the grass they step on or the wind that blows. Now, I know that many of you—especially those who are young and facing this for the first time—might feel like the ground has been ripped out from under you. You’re worried, maybe even scared about what the future holds. Some of you may even be wondering if you’ll be safe here, wondering if you need to leave this country just to find security and a fair shot at life. But let me tell you this: you are not alone. You are not alone. There is an entire generation of people who have been where you are, who have felt that same fear, and they’re still here. And I’m telling you, the sun will rise tomorrow. Let me tell you, my friends, DIY networks exist. Real, true communities exist—communities that don’t rely on politicians and their empty promises. You don’t have to depend on the person on your TV screen. You can depend on each other. And I’m asking you right now: reach out. Look to your left, look to your right. Connect with your neighbors, your friends, your comrades, because now is the time to build, and build strong. In the words of the great revolutionary Thomas Sankara: “There is no true social revolution without the liberation of women. May my eyes never see and my feet never take me to a society where half the people are held in silence. I hear the roar of women’s silence. I sense the rumble of their storm and feel the fury of their revolt.” And we’re going to take that message and put it at the heart of our movement. Because, folks, there is no liberation if women aren’t free. There is no justice if women’s rights, including the right to choose, aren’t protected. This is not a side issue—this is the issue. Women’s rights are human rights. And we’re going to make that clear in every corner of this nation. We’re still in the first half of this new American century, and what we build now will set the course. Let’s remind ourselves of those words held by Lady Liberty herself: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” That’s the America we could be. And in that struggle for a better, freer future, women have always been the ones pushing forward. They’re not just part of this movement—they’ve been leading it, keeping it strong, giving it life. Women are the backbone of every fight for real change. And we’re here to say that if we want freedom, if we want equality, we have to start with them. Because, let’s be real: what kind of country are we building if we don’t guarantee the basic rights of women? What future are we heading toward if half our population has to fight to be seen, to be heard, to be free? Fighting for women’s rights isn’t just the right thing to do—it’s how we build a country where everyone can live with dignity. So let me put it plain: if we’re going to face these next two years with courage and strength, we need each other. We need connections that go deeper than the political rallies, that go beyond isolated protests on college campuses. We need a robust national network, built by us, for us. Not from the top down, but from the ground up, with every voice, every hand, every heart pulling together. I’m talking about a coalition that spans this whole country—local organizations, radical youth, labor unions, mutual aid groups—all of us together. I believe it’s time to think big. It’s time to organize at a scale we haven’t seen in decades, a century even. So here’s what I’m proposing: December 20th, 2025, New Orleans. I want a national convention, a place where every corner of this movement can come together. I want to see communists, anarchists, democratic socialists, labor union leaders, Indigenous leaders, prison abolitionists, climate activists, creators, content makers, and organizers from all walks of life come together to build a plan, a strategy, a path forward. This convention isn’t just some meeting on a calendar. It’s a starting line—a launch toward a future we choose, a future we build together. Because we’re already 25 years into this century, and we’ve seen where the current leadership has taken us. The crises of our time—climate change, economic injustice, systemic racism, the oppression of women, the attack on LGBTQ+ rights—are too critical, too urgent to be left to the whims of the powerful. This convention is where we draw the line and start shaping a new way forward. Folks, this convention is where we’re getting down to the brass tacks. We’re not just looking to fill up seats; we’re looking to make real changes, to organize and strategize for a future we actually want to live in. If you want to help make this convention a reality, here’s what you can start doing right now: Join a Group—Just Pick One and Start Showing Up Look, it doesn’t matter if it’s Freedom Road Socialist Organization, PSL, the Green Party, the Socialist Alternative, Food Not Bombs, or a mutual aid group in your area. Just pick a group and start showing up. Get into their meetings, meet people, understand their goals, and make connections. Our aim is to have people embedded in all these organizations, and we need them all talking to each other. If there’s a meeting or event coming up, go. Bring up this convention. Even if they aren’t officially involved, open up the conversation. 2. Educate Yourself—and Pass That Knowledge Along Not everyone has the time to sit down with a stack of books, and that’s fine. But if you do have that privilege, use it. Educate yourself, but don’t stop there. Bring that knowledge to others. Be a resource for your friends, family, and neighbors. Don’t talk down to them; we’re not here to preach from some high horse. We’re here to learn and build together. Remember, we are the masses. Share what you know in a way that’s practical, that connects with people where they’re at. If we want to see change, we have to make education and dialogue something real, something people can understand and see in their own lives. 3. Start the Conversations Where You Are This is where it starts—right where you live, work, and spend your time. Talk to your friends and family, your coworkers, the people you already know. Bring up what’s happening around us, what we’re working toward. If you’re a community leader, even if it’s not a political setting, make space for these discussions. If we’re going to change anything, it has to start by opening up these conversations in our everyday lives. Get people talking, thinking, and, more than anything, ready to take action. Now, why New Orleans? Why December 20th, 2025? New Orleans has faced it all—storms, floods, and years of being neglected by those in power. It’s a city that embodies resilience. But with climate change pressing down harder every year, there’s a real risk that it won’t be here in another 100 years. That’s why we’re gathering there: to make a promise, to take a stand, and to ensure that we don’t let this moment slip away. I’m not alone in this vision. None of us are. This is something so many of us feel in our gut—that together, we can do something different, something real. And I want to make something clear before we close: the attacks on women’s rights in this country are attacks on all of us. We cannot build a free, just future if women are held back, silenced, denied their basic rights. Women hold up half the sky, and we will not stand by while they are pushed down. We need every voice, every hand, every heart in this fight. So let’s take this energy forward. Let’s walk out of here knowing that we’re not alone, that this movement is growing every day. This is our moment in history. I know we will rise to meet the occasion. Thank you. -Erik Houdini
Komunitas
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We need to go back even further than those posts do. Russia has been invaded over its Western border 3 times in modernity. The first was by Napoleon. The second was by a bunch of Western European nations. The third was by the Third Reich. Every single invasion was bloody, but the first and third were devastating. Millions of Russians died fighting off Napoleon and millions died fighting off the Third Reich. And both of those invasions followed the same route crossing into Russia in what today is the border between Russia and Ukraine. It has been well established for centuries, therefore, that this specific area land is the most vulnerable spot of Russian national self defense. So that’s the first understanding that comes from history that is critical to our understanding of the present. The second is understanding how military campaigns like this work. How did France invade Russia? What did Napoleon have to do? Well, take a look at a map and you’ll see that it’s not a short distance. The route goes through many sovereign nations. And we’re not talking about just a bunch of soldiers walking to Russia and trying to cross a border. We’re talking about a massive army. It requires supplies, which means it requires supply lines. It requires reconnaissance, communications, housing, ammunition, food, defensive positioning and fortifications, etc. This is no small feat. It’s a huge undertaking. Napoleon enlisted a number of European countries along the route to support the campaign and historians study the logistics of this invasion very heavily. How did the Third Reich invaded Russia? First, they made land grabs that were appeased. Then they invaded other countries. In both modes of expansion they built their logistics to support their military campaign of invading Russia. Understanding the importance of logistics in these invasions gives us the background we need to understand NATO. NATO is a military that was founded specifically to “counter” Russia. Among other things this includes plans for an invasion, because it has to. But unlike France or Germany, NATO is not a national military, it’s transnational, and unlike any other anti-Russian army on the continent in history - it has nukes. NATO emerges just as all the great powers decide to stop warring amongst themselves and instead choose to fight proxy wars in the periphery. So NATO is a transnational nuclear military that forms in peacetime. And what does it do? It expands. It gains land, money, soldiers, and sovereignty from other European countries as part of its treaty structure. It uses all of that to build a vast logistics network across Europe during peacetime. And it moves that logistics network ever Eastward towards Russia, eventually reaching Ukraine in late 2013 with the first ever joint NATO/Ukraine military exercise. To Russia, this looks like a slow motion invasion. Which is made worse when we realize that the US worked with the Vatican to spirit away many Third Reich officers under Operation Paperclip, and then hand picked from among the Third Reich officers which ones would lead NATO. Yes. The US staffed NATO leadership with Nazis. Because Nazis were specifically oriented towards the invasion of Russia. It’s made worse when we realize NATO conducted Operation Gladio where it established neo-nazi terrorist cells all over Europe as a contingency against Russian invasion. It’s made worse when a supposed defensive alliance decides to bomb Yugoslavia for “humanitarian reasons” - the first ever war for humanitarian reasons - which included dropping DU bombs from airplanes into populated areas. All of this history helps us understand the genuine national security threat that Russia is facing as part of a historical process, not merely a paranoid assessment or set of assumptions. And it helps us understand the rhetoric and logic of escalation since 2014 on both sides. I encourage you to research the NATO exercises that involved Ukraine. It includes things like simulating and invasion of Kaliningrad and flying B-52 nuclear bombers in Ukrainian airspace. All of this history fundamentally changes the framing of this particular conflict.