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Brian Berletic

Formerly known as "Land Destroyer," The New Atlas provides anti-imperialist geopolitical analysis with a focus on Eurasia by expat and former Marine Brian Berletic (aka Tony Cartalucci), currently based in Bangkok, Thailand.

US-Canadian “Split” another Exercise in Public Perception Management

by Brian Berletic
written by Brian Berletic Approx 14 Mins. ¶. Watch / read
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Brian Berletic
THE NEW ATLAS

US-Canadian "Split" another Exercise in Public Perception Management

Aug 28, 2026
Just as the US created the political circus of a "US-EU split" to sell greater costs to average Europeans for the US proxy war on Russia in Ukraine, a similar political circus is being performed regarding US-Canadian trade and relations. In reality, the US dominates key industries in Canada including technology, resources, energy, media, military production, and manufacturing all while Canada depends overwhelming on the US for trade - importing and exporting more from and to the US than with the rest of the world combined exposing the lack of leverage and thus agency Canada actually possesses exposing the fiction of this current dispute.

References: Harvard University Atlas of Economic Complexity - Canadian Exports: https://atlas.hks.harvard.edu/explore... Harvard University Atlas of Economic Complexity - Canadian Exports: https://atlas.hks.harvard.edu/explore...

Where to Find My Work:

Website: https://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/
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China’ Long March 10B Rocket Closes Gap with US on Space Launch Capabilities

by Brian Berletic
written by Brian Berletic Approx. 45 mins. • Watch / read
China's Long March rocket
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The New Atlas

Brian Berletic

China’ Long March 10B Rocket Closes Gap with US on Space Launch Capabilities

Aug 3, 2026
  • China has successfully launched and recovered the first stage booster of its Long March 10B rocket system marking only the second country to do so following US-based SpaceX and Blue Origin;
  • The success will likely be followed by additional tests proving reusability before production and launch cadence is expanded closing the gap with the US which currently launches more payloads to orbit than China and Russia combined; The ability to reuse rockets allows for vastly greater numbers of launches, the rapid deployment of large satellite constellations, as well as advantages in anti-satellite operations - both in deploying systems to use against enemy satellites and replacing satellites the enemy has neutralized.

China’s Long March 10B Rocket Closes Gap on Space Launch Capabilities

Brian Berletic, July 21, 2026

On July 10, 2026, China successfully launched a payload to orbit and recovered the first stage booster of its Long March 10B rocket system, making China only the second nation after the US to do so.

China's Long March rocket

The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), through its commercial subsidiary, China Rocket Company, has developed the Long March 10B, featuring a reusable first stage recovered by landing under its own power on a recovery ship using a cable net system.

In function, it is similar to the US-based SpaceX’s Falcon 9, which can return to landing pads on shore or land on recovery ships at sea using deployable legs. By eliminating the legs from the first stage booster and using the cable net system, the Long March 10B saves weight that can be used instead for additional fuel.

Both the Long March 10B and the Falcon 9 use kerosene and LOX (liquid oxygen) fueled engines — though each system uses different types of engines. The Long March 10B has 7 engines, while Falcon 9 has 9.

The Long March 10B can carry 16 metric tons into orbit in reusable configuration, while the Falcon 9 can carry 17.5 metric tons into orbit—fairly comparable.

China seeks to examine, refurbish, and relaunch this recovered booster a second time by the end of 2026.

All factors being equal, China’s surpassing the US in terms of space launch capabilities and cadence is inevitable
 

This was only the second test of the Long March 10B — the first occurred in February this year, featuring a planned soft landing at sea next to the recovery ship after propelling China’s new manned spacecraft — the Mengzhou — to maximum dynamic pressure (the highest speed and pressures within the Earth’s atmosphere) before conducting a launch abort test, which was also successful.

To have successfully designed, tested, and successfully recovered a first-stage booster with capabilities on par with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 in just 2 attempts is a monumental achievement considering the multiple failures that took place when developing the Falcon 9 itself.

Why China’s Success is Important

In 2020 and 2021, China was outpacing the US in space launches. By 2022 the US had surpassed China, and every year since the US has surpassed China solely because of SpaceX’s ability to launch, recover, and reuse its rocket fleet — where China — until now — has been forced to fully expend every rocket it launches.

Over the years, SpaceX has launched and recovered its Falcon 9 rockets over 600 times.

In 2025 — last year — the US launched a total of 181 rockets — China 92-93 and Russia 17 — meaning the US launched more rockets than both China and Russia combined.

The US has exploited this advantage in launch cadence by building the Starlink (approximately 10,000 active satellites) and now the Starshield (approximately 200 active satellites) low earth orbit satellite constellations used to wage war around the globe — from Russia to Iran and eventually against China itself.

Russia and China have been deploying their own versions of these low earth orbit satellite constellations for low latency communication for both civilian and military applications — but because of their lower launch cadence — they have many times fewer satellites of this kind in orbit — thus coverage and resolution lags behind their US counterparts.

Reusability is the only way to achieve such large constellations and reach parity with the US in this regard — a capability China is now in the process of fully implementing.

In the December 2025 article, “A New Space Race Above Earth May Determine Who Prevails Upon It,” it was explained that:

The lopsided access to space afforded by reusable launch systems means placing not only larger and more capable satellite constellations into orbit; it also means being able to target and remove the constellations of others from orbit.

This includes the use of co-orbital satellites (sometimes called “killer satellites” or “inspector satellites”) able to approach the satellites of other nations. Nations like the US with a high launch cadence can quickly put new, more advanced co-orbital satellites into orbit or replace any losses from an adversary’s co-orbital or anti-satellite capabilities.

This represents a lopsided balance of power in orbit, creating a potentially lopsided balance of power back on Earth.

Only time will tell whether or not China’s ability to match the US in all matters on Earth can be extended over this new space race above it.

We can now see that just halfway through 2026, the Long March 10B has carried out 2 incredibly successful tests, which also included functional missions: the first tested the launch abort capabilities of the Mengzhou spacecraft, and the second launched a functional communication satellite into orbit.

China is Eliminating Washington’s Remaining Advantages On and Above Earth

China is reaching parity with the US in one of the few remaining areas of advantage the US has, which will likely only accelerate Washington’s desire to undermine China’s continued rise — both across information space and also economically, geopolitically, and militarily.

As part of this, the US government and its vast network of propaganda, including those of its proxies, including the UK via BBC, have already worked to diminish, downplay, and even just outright lie about China’s recent success.

The BBC, in its article, “China lands reusable rocket for first time, state media says,” in its headline alone attempts to suggest Chinese “state media” has claimed success that may or may not be true — the BBC itself being state media. This is despite extensive video footage from the launch being available online, including live video of the launch streaming on YouTube hours before the BBC published its article. .

Attempts to undermine China’s success in terms of space launches have been continuous and had already targeted the first Long March 10B launch this year back in February.

China Observer, operated by Vision Times, a US government-backed anti-China media project maintained by the mostly US-based Falun Gong UFO cult, published a video titled, “Long March 10 Rocket Recovery Fails, China Denies It, Spends $100B Copying SpaceX for Nothing,” which deliberately misrepresented the mission profile for the launch, claiming the planned soft landing at sea next to the recovery ship was in fact a mishap the Chinese government was maliciously attempting to cover up.
Not only did the video attempt to misrepresent the test launch and undermine its success, it repeated the popular myth that all of China’s successes are merely “copied” or “stolen” from the West — and in this case — lifted from SpaceX’s Falcon 9 system — despite the rockets being entirely different in size, engine type, and configuration, and despite China’s Long March 10B using a recovery system literally having never been used by any other launch system in human history.

Accusing China’s Long March 10B of being a “copy” of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 would be like accusing a Ford Mustang of being a copy of a Ferrari 962 because they both have 4 wheels and engines.

After long claiming China’s inability to successfully recover the first stage of an orbital launch system, these same anti-China voices are now insisting it will take 10 years or longer for China to match SpaceX’ launch cadence.

These claims are based on the amount of time it has taken China to match these capabilities in the first place, and how long it took SpaceX itself to scale up its production, launch, recovery, and reuse of its Falcon 9 launch system. However, these claims ignore the reality of the vast differences between the US and China.

China’s industrial base — which will create the supply chains required to scale up its ability to launch/recover/reuse rockets — is the largest, most advanced industrial base on Earth. China produces millions more STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) graduates each year than the US.

These advantages have already allowed China to not only match the scale and complexity of US-based electric vehicle company Tesla but also surpass it to the point Tesla itself is putting superior Chinese-designed and made batteries into cars it sells overseas — China having achieved this in just a few years.

These advantages have also allowed China to surpass the US in traditional shipbuilding by a factor of 200. What would prevent China from repeating this success in terms of aerospace engineering — a field China has already been closing in on the existing US lead in recent years, including in both 5th generation and even 6th generation warplanes?

All factors being equal, China’s surpassing the US in terms of space launch capabilities and cadence is inevitable. This is why the US is attempting to skew factors in its favor — not only through its use of information warfare, and trade and economic measures, but also through warfare expanding worldwide, seeking to disrupt and destabilize the entirety of the multipolar world China is helping shape and use to displace US-led unipolarism as an alternative.

As Chinese successes continue to accelerate and multiply, both here on Earth and above it, it should be expected that US desperation and aggression accelerate dangerously with it. Only time will tell if China’s ability to innovate, build, and scale up its successes can outpace the US in the one area it still maintains an uncontested monopoly over — destroying.

Brian Berletic is a Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer.

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US-Iran “MOU” Sets Stage for Renewed US Siege

by Brian Berletic
written by Brian Berletic Approx. 25 Mins. • Watch / read
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THE NEW ATLAS
w.  Brian Berletic

US•Iran "MOU" Sets Stage for Renewed US Siege

The New Atlas

The New Atlas

Jun 18, 2026 Eurasia/Middle East
•The US•Iran “agreement” is just an agreement to make an agreement involving a party—the US—historically incapable of making and upholding treaties, agreements, or even MOUs;

•In the most recent phase of the US’ decades-running war on Iran, Iran has simply “survived,” not “won;”

•The US failing at this juncture to topple Iran when it can resume armed aggression at any time means Iran remains at threat until the unlikely withdrawal of US forces from the region along with the draw-down of support for its various proxies in the region;

•Iran now faces either a possible longer pause it will need to race the US in preparations for the next confrontation, or another immediate disruption of any longer-term peace for the continued pseudo-ceasefire it has agreed to with US where it stays just under the threshold of total war with Iran while managing energy prices based on shipping disruptions and the prospect of wider war;

•The US already has two excuses ready and waiting to undo any agreement it makes with Iran including its long-established and well-used “Leave it to Bibi” option and the US’ own “intelligence community” preparing to accuse Iran of not abiding by any agreement made;

•Both options have been repeatedly used by the US to unilaterally withdraw from previous agreements made with Iran as well as to provoke armed aggression against Iran;

•The US has also discussed using its terrorist proxies in Syria now controlling the US-toppled nation to fight Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon as a means of sidestepping provisions in the US-Iranian agreement requiring the US proxy Israel to end military aggression in Lebanon;

•OPEC monthly oil reports from January and April 2026 indicate a nearly 20% decrease in energy production;

•This 20% decrease in production is the result of physical damage to energy production infrastructure from missile exchanges during the war, the filling up of storage facilities and the necessity to temporarily stop production because of that, and other factors;

•The timeline for restoring this 20% reduction in West Asian energy production spans anywhere from 6 months to a year or more;

•Within that window, the US can restart aggression and disrupt recovery by either reducing it back to a 20% reduction, or even further as part of its energy blockade of both China and Asia;

•Meanwhile the US continues expanding its confrontations with all other pillars of the emerging multipolar world including Russia and China;

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Debunking the prevailing myth: Who Really Controls US Foreign Policy & What They Gain

by Brian Berletic
written by Brian Berletic 9 minutes read
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Brian Berletic

Who Really Controls US Foreign Policy & What They Gain By Convincing You Otherwise...

Jun 10, 2026 Eurasia/Middle East
  • The US is controlled by US-based corporations Americans themselves fund daily by buying their goods and services;
  • These corporations are lead, chaired, and owned by majority white nominally "Christian" men, or in other words, Westerners - not ethnic or religious minorities like "Jews;"
  • These corporations also make up the vast majority of lobbying money spent annually in the United States with organizations like AIPAC making up LESS than 1% of all US lobbying;
  • It is stated US policy to scapegoat Israel amid the US war on Iran, a policy that has been promoted by the mainstream media, the algorithms of US-based social media platforms, and even the US administration itself.

The video transcript critically examines the widely propagated narrative that Israel controls the United States, a claim frequently amplified by mainstream media and social media platforms, asserting it to be both misleading and irrational. The speaker urges viewers to zoom out and understand the broader context of US foreign policy, which employs multiple proxies globally—not just Israel—to project power and wage wars. These proxies include Ukraine against Russia, Taiwan and other Asia-Pacific nations against China, and Israel against Iran, all supported by US weapons and political backing. The narrative that Israel or the Jewish lobby (such as AIPAC) controls the US is debunked by pointing out that AIPAC comprises less than 1% of all US lobbying, overshadowed by corporate lobbying and influence.

Furthermore, claims that Jews control US corporations are shown to be baseless after analyzing corporate leadership demographics, which reveal a predominance of non-Jewish Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Romance, and Germanic heritage individuals. The speaker highlights that corporations, funded daily by American consumers, are the true drivers of US foreign and domestic policies, supported by powerful financial interests that suppress multipolarity in favor of a Western-dominated unipolar world. Israel is characterized as an American-created proxy state with a small population and economy, physically incapable of controlling the US, serving instead as a tool wielded by US imperial interests.

The transcript clarifies that blaming Israel or Jews acts as a distraction from confronting the systemic and historical aggression rooted in Western empires, particularly the Anglo-American axis. The speaker urges people to recognize the actual power structures—the corporate and financial elites—whose profits and interests fuel wars and imperialism globally. The video critiques the logic fallacies and emotional biases behind accusations against Israel and Jewish people, stressing the need for evidence and broader perspective rather than simplistic scapegoating. Concluding, the speaker invites viewers to support alternative media and multipolar worldviews to challenge the entrenched imperialist narratives and power.

Highlights

  • [01:00] 🔍 US foreign policy uses Israel as one of many proxies worldwide, not just Israel alone.
  • [04:40] 💰 AIPAC’s lobbying constitutes less than 1% of total US lobbying, overshadowed by corporate power.
  • [10:00] 🌍 Israel’s economic footprint is smaller than the top five US corporations combined.
  • [14:00] 🏛️ US empire built on Anglo-American capitalist and imperialist history, predating Israel’s creation.
  • [23:30] 📊 Corporate monopolies like Walmart, Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft dominate US influence.
  • [30:30] 📜 US policy papers explicitly plan to use Israel as a proxy for military strikes on Iran with US backing.
  • [38:00] 🔄 The Israel-controls-US narrative serves as a deliberate mainstream media distraction from real systemic issues.

Key Insights

  • [01:45] 🔎 Proxy Warfare and Global Strategy: The US fights multiple proxy wars simultaneously—Israel versus Iran, Ukraine versus Russia, Taiwan and others against China—demonstrating a comprehensive strategy to maintain global dominance through regional proxies rather than direct unilateral control by any single proxy like Israel. This emphasizes the complexity of US imperial strategy beyond simplistic narratives.
  • [05:00] 📉 Lobbying and Influence Misconceptions: The claim that Israeli or Jewish lobbying dominates US politics is disproven by data showing AIPAC’s lobbying is less than 1% of all lobbying. This challenges popular conspiracy theories lacking factual grounding, emphasizing the disproportionate role of corporate lobbying, which vastly overshadows any ethnic, religious, or foreign lobbying group's influence.
  • [08:30] 🏢 Corporate Power as the True Driver: US corporations that Americans support daily financially underpin US policy decisions. Corporations like Walmart, Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft have an economic footprint larger than Israel’s entire GDP and population combined, illustrating the scale of corporate influence as a root cause behind US actions. This shifting focus refutes ethnic or single-nation scapegoating and highlights systemic economic power.
  • [10:30] 🌐 Israel’s Proxy Status and Scale Limitations: Smaller than the US state of New Jersey in size and population, Israel cannot realistically control the immensely larger US. Instead, it functions as a disposable proxy state operating under US imperial directives, especially in Middle Eastern conflicts. This insight debunks hyperbolic claims of Israeli domination and reframes Israel’s role within US empire-building.
  • [14:20] 📜 Historical Continuity of Western Empire Building: The US is described as an evolution of the British Empire, continuing practices such as land theft, indigenous genocides, and overseas imperialism long before Israel existed. This historical context situates US imperialism as a longstanding and systemic issue rather than a phenomenon that suddenly arose due to Israel or Jewish influence.
  • [30:00] 🔫 Documented US Policies on Using Israel as a Military Proxy: The Brookings Institution policy paper from 2009 explicitly outlines encouraging Israeli military strikes on Iran while deflecting blowback onto Israel. This candid articulation of US strategy confirms Israel’s role as a proxy rather than independent actor and highlights deliberate US policy design in war-making and information control.
  • [26:30] 🤔 Fallacy of Ethnic Conspiracy Theories: Attempts to link corporate and political power to a Jewish conspiracy fail when carefully analyzed since Jewish representation among CEOs and board members of dominant corporations is a tiny minority. The video warns against simplistic ethnic scapegoating, which distracts from the real sources of power: Western corporate-financier elites, predominantly Anglo-American and nominally Christian.

This nuanced analysis calls for moving past emotional, race- or religion-based conspiracies to more accurately understand the mechanisms that drive US policy, war, and empire today.

Detailed Analysis

The video transcript undertakes a thorough deconstruction of the narrative that Israel controls the US, often propagated by mainstream and social media algorithms. The speaker frames this narrative as a deliberate distraction from the broader, more systemic reality of US imperialism. Instead of singling out Israel or Jewish lobbying groups like AIPAC as controlling the US, the speaker shows that the US runs a multi-regional proxy strategy, supporting different client states and organizations to counterbalance rival powers like Russia, China, and Iran.

This expanded perspective contextualizes Israel not as a puppeteer but as one of many US proxies used in a global contest for hegemony. It also reveals the commonality in approach with US support for Ukraine or Taiwan: fortifying local actors to proxy wars drawn along geopolitical fault lines. Each of these proxies has varying degrees of lobbying representation in Washington, but no proxy can be said to control US policy on its own.

The speaker’s analysis of lobbying expenditures is critical, quantitatively disproving AIPAC’s influence as less than 1% of total lobbying spending, far eclipsed by massive corporate lobbying. This calls attention to the real levers of power in Washington—the corporate-financier complex. It is these entities, supported by millions of American consumers’ purchasing power, that are positioned at the heart of US policy-making. The speaker enumerates corporations like Walmart, Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and various financial giants, showing their vast economic footprint exceeding that of Israel.

The statistical scrutiny of corporate leadership further contradicts common antisemitic tropes claiming Jewish domination of corporate America. Most leadership have Western European ancestry and Christian nominal identities. This insight stems from a data-driven approach, using easily verifiable public information such as CEO names and board membership registries. While some Jewish presence is acknowledged, it represents a minority far below what conspiracy narratives claim and does not translate to monolithic control or a secret cabal.

Historically, the address situates US imperialism as a continuation of British colonial domination. The US inherited and expanded the empire-building project through practices of settler colonialism, indigenous genocide, overseas colonization (e.g., Hawaii, the Philippines), and global military interventions. Israel, created out of Western imperial design after WWII, serves as an appendage or extension of this empire, rather than an independent controlling force.

US strategic documents like the 2009 Brookings Institution report expose explicit US policy to use Israel militarily against Iran while deflecting consequences away from the US. This admission reveals the cynical realpolitik behind public illusions and the misinformation campaigns that portray Israel as the puppet master. Instead, Israel functions as a sacrificial proxy accommodating US geopolitical warfare with plausible deniability.

The video also condemns the emotional and often racist reasons behind fixing blame on Jews or Israel—the need of certain groups to externalize their own society’s corruption onto a scapegoat. It frames the real powerholders as predominantly white, nominally Christian Western elites who have historically and presently maintained global dominance through ruthless economic and military power.

Finally, the speaker calls for a mature reassessment of US imperialism and its drivers, urging viewers to move past illusionary conspiracy theories. The real challenge lies in confronting monopolistic corporations, their financiers, and the unipolar global order they uphold. Understanding this dynamic is essential for meaningful political action and for resisting multi-decade cycles of war and exploitation masked by distraction and denial.

Conclusion

The enduring myth that Israel controls the US is a narrative designed to obscure the deeper reality of Western corporatocratic and imperial power. By shifting focus from ethnic scapegoating and conspiratorial thinking to analyzing global proxy wars, lobbying percentages, empirical corporate leadership data, and historical imperial continuity, the video offers a comprehensive framework for understanding US foreign and domestic policy. It calls on viewers to question emotional biases and media narratives while encouraging engagement with multipolar alternatives and the dismantling of corporate-driven warfare and empire.

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US Gives Ukrainian Nazis AI-Guided Drones & Why These Are not Game-Changers

by Brian Berletic
written by Brian Berletic Approx. 21 Mins. • Watch / read
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By Brian Berletic
THE NEW ATLAS

US Gives Ukrainian Nazis AI-Guided Drones & Why These Are not Game-Changers

The New Atlas

The New Atlas
4 Jun 2026

Jun 4, 2026 Russia-Ukraine
▪️Western media has widely reported "medium range strikes" on Russian targets by AI-enabled drones with claims that it is complicating logistics specifically to Crimea;
▪️Many sources, like the BBC, cover up the US role altogether - others like France24 not only admit the "Hornet" drones were developed by the US, but that they were handed over to Ukrainian military units like Azov who include in all their drone footage Nazi-insignia watermarks;
▪️France24 admits: "The US-designed Hornet was developed by the American company Perennial Autonomy, which was founded and financed by former Google CEO, Eric Schmidt. This drone is frequently used in US Army training exercises. However, in July 2025, Perennial Autonomy – then called Swift Beat – made a deal to supply Ukraine with drones," and that, "Elite Ukrainian units like the Azov and Khartia Brigades have been posting images of Hornet drones striking Russian supply convoys;"
▪️While the US-made Hornet drones give Ukraine this ability, Russia has already been using AI-guided drones for battlefield air interdiction operations along with vastly greater numbers of FPVs, Geran, as well as many times more missiles, guided glide bombs, and guided rockets;
▪️While both sides have the ability to complicate each other's logistics - only Russia has the additional manpower, armor, and other equipment required to actually exploit it and translate it into territory gained and attrition imposed;

 

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