LARRY JOHNSON—I think Putin and his foreign policy team understand that Trump is a flake and are responding calmly, at least in public, to Donald’s contradictory words and actions. Russia is still ready to intercede with Iran and Israel in hopes of securing a ceasefire, but the Kremlin first has to figure out what Donald Trump’s policy is — i.e., war or peace.
INDRAJIT—Yesterday, ‘Israeli’ cells within Iran assassinated intelligence leaders Mohammad Kazemi, Hassan Mohaqqeq, and Mohsen Bagheri, according to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards. ‘Israel’ also has drones hidden inside cities, deploying from the roofs of houses, according to Senior IRGC general Mohsen Rezaei. Rezaei said:
Most of yesterday’s and today’s attacks were carried out using micro drones installed in various ways on the roofs of some houses and were remotely activated.
Most of these drones were smuggled a couple of months ago.
Israel is afraid of flying its F-35s inside Iran, so it’s forced to launch missiles from above Iraq. They have been able to penetrate inside Iranian skies on the western borders for a very brief amount of time before leaving it again.
There have been street chases in Tehran, bombs to defuse, vehicles to check, houses to search, it’s a public security mess. The White Empire (America, ‘Israel’, same thing) accuses Iran of sponsoring terrorism, but WTF is this? Every accusation is a confession.
THE BOBCAT—Where the US could do it — Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos — they did everything possible to destroy whatever they could not control. Whole nations were laid waste and tens of millions died miserable deaths, almost all civilians. The US used everything short of nukes (and considered nukes over and over again): biological weapons, chemical weapons, psychological warfare, economic warfare, starvation, terrorism. There were no limits. The famous My Lai massacre was a success — no one believes that it was actually business as usual.
OLIVER BOYD-BARRETT—The challenge to Russia is not so much how or whether it will win the war, as this is already secured, but on how and whether it will manage a “peace” that leaves Ukraine – even if the country all fell under Russian control – in an extremely fractious state and, along with Russia, subject to an indefinite future of costly European harrassment. Although this strategy would continue to attrite Europe, in the same way as the US is already attrited, it is probably much too messy and and an unpredictable end-point for Putin who, we can expect, will strive for something cleaner and that seems to the rest of the world, particularly his allies in the Global South, to be something “fair.”
• Garland and Laith analyse the high-handed theatrics of manipulating Arabs by the Trump admin and Israel, along with its EU vassals and the abject Gulf Arab despots. There is no question the US Empire has set the Middle East aflame, and the turmoil is engulfing Turkey, too, where Erdogan is maintaining a firm media blackout. The news , however, is that big demonstrations are occurring almost daily in Turkey’s main cities, and the unrest is not likely to abate any time soon. Laith believes that despite the tragedy in Syria, the country will see better days and the hideous Whahabi regime will give way to a new Syria allied with the multipolar world. Meantime, the resistance in Lebanon and Yemen continues, and Iran’s expanding military capabilities appears to have deterred Washington and Israel from an adventure.
