RB—France was only pushed out of Morocco and Algeria through liberation struggles. Its elite were not about to set the rest of their colonial conquests truly free. Instead, it constructed a neo-colonial set of structures, such as the CFA Franc monetary system, widespread regional French military bases, and French corporate dominance. Within this neo-colonial empire, known as Francafrique, were the nations of Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo (all West African CFA Franc), Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon (all Central African CFA Franc). With the newly independent countries possessing little of the native administrative and professional ranks required to effectively manage and run a nation. There are plans to replace the Western CFA Franc with a new more independent currency, the Eco, but these have been postponed a number of times.

VB—It is worth remembering that this ritual humiliation of targeted minorities in Syria has always been the hallmark of the various Takfiri mobs, including Jaish Al Islam in Eastern Ghouta who caged Alawite women and children as human shields during the battles to liberate the Damascus suburbs from terrorist occupation.

In conclusion and most importantly, Al Oraydi was a marked man for his opposition to Jolani’s political posturing and geopolitical positioning – these policies are dictated by the US-Zionist bloc and funded by various members of that bloc. The UAE and Kuwait are known to be supportive of “Syrian” cross border operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Al Oraydi was also opposed to plans for an intra-Islamic conflict on the Lebanese front. Is this why he was picked off now?

JM—The story that Iran had mined the Strait of Hormuz was taken as truth, without questions or consideration of the contradictions – not just in the media —but in the NSAM – the Not So Alternative Media. To get how pervasive – and persuasive– the “narrative” was, you only needed to check Larry Johnson’s Sonar 21, which provides you with interviews with all the most popular commentators. Everybody who is anybody, went with the mine story – even the excellent Alastair Crooke.

BR—Ninety-two percent of housing units. Ninety-five percent of university buildings. Ninety-four percent of hospitals. That’s how much of Gaza’s life-sustaining infrastructure Israel has destroyed since October 2023 — and the list goes on and on.

OBB—I picked up on this conflict in my post yesterday, arguing that if Russia (that is to say, Putin) is really committed to preserving a future for the Russian Federation, then Putin or his successor(s) will need to act now, militarily, using any of the approaches I have so far identified or others that I don’t have time to pursue now, that will stun the West and bring about an end to the war with sufficient conviction that we, the human race as a whole, can concentrate on the things that really matter: safety from climate change, the end to a world controlled by the selfish interests of billionaires and trillionaires, and their corporate manifestations, and exertion to achieve the maximum possible positive social development, self-realization and happiness.

PG—Two Billion-Dollar Towers. Two Opposite Disasters. One Question. On the east coast, the skinniest skyscraper ever built is cracking in the wind 1,000 feet over Manhattan — a 10-inch fracture in its spine, 1,893 documented defects, and a penthouse that lost 80% of its value. On the west coast, San Francisco’s Millennium Tower is sinking into the ground and tilting toward its neighbors, because its foundation stopped in mud instead of bedrock. 432 Park Avenue was too thin. Millennium Tower was too heavy. One is cracking. One is sinking. Both were sold as the future of luxury living — and both became billion-dollar warnings about what happens when ambition outruns physics and greed outruns honesty.