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Debt Rattle June 27 2025

Jun 272025
 
 June 27, 2025  Posted by at 8:45 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  48 Responses »


Rembrandt van Rijn Let the little children come to me 1627-28

 

• US Reportedly Mulls Easing Iran Sanctions (ZH)
• Iran Truce Could Inspire Ukraine Peace – Witkoff (RT)
• Ayatollah Claims ‘Victory’ Over Israel Which ‘Almost Collapsed’ (ZH)
• Let Trump Save Us from War with Iran (Paul Craig Roberts)
• The Damage Iran Has Inflicted On Israel (Helmer)
• Netanyahu’s Corruption Trial Should Be ‘Canceled’ – Trump (RT)
• Trump To Consider Future Ukraine Aid (RT)
• Brazil’s Lula Tells Trump To Spend Less Time Posting (RT)
• Orbán Tells Zelensky On X: The EU Was Created For Peace, Not War (RMX)
• Ukraine Deliberately Exterminating Civilians In Donbass – Moscow (RT)
• EU Must Prepare To Talk To Russia – Macron (RT)
• Slovakia To Veto New Russia Sanctions – PM Fico (RT)
• The Ceasefire Kabuki (Pepe Escobar)
• Is Donald Trump Really Running The Iran Show? (Jay)
• A European Body Suffering From Acute Trumpitis (Dionísio)
• Trump Plans Mass Dismissal Of Asylum Claims, Fast-Track Deportations (ZH)

 

 

Scott: I usually hide this comic behind the Locals subscription wall but you might like it.

von Greyerz

Maersheimer

Candace

 

 

 

 

Just because they tried so hard, I looked for a story on the Trump admin’s presentation of evidence concerning the Iran nuclear bombings. Found only this, by now buried in a ZH article.

• US Reportedly Mulls Easing Iran Sanctions (ZH)

As expected Hegseth during the Thursday morning Pentagon press conference excoriated the mainstream media for its coverage of the Trump-ordered attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites. This after repeatedly praising Trump’s leadership at yesterday’s NATO summit. “I hope, with all the ink spilled, all of your outlets find the time to properly recognize this historic change in continental security that other presidents tried to do, other presidents talked about,” Hegseth said. “President Trump accomplished it. It’s a huge deal.” He strongly pushed back especially against CNN reporting that the strikes merely set back Iran’s nuclear program by months, again, framing the avalanche of MSM skepticism as supposedly due merely to anti-Trump bias and not wanting to give him a ‘win’.

“Again, it was preliminary, a day and a half after the actual strike, when it admits itself in writing that it requires weeks to accumulate the necessary data to make such an assessment,” the defense secretary said. The president “created the conditions to end the war, decimating – choose your word – obliterating, destroying Iran’s nuclear capabilities,” he asserted, before reading aloud the assessments of various US and foreign intelligence heads.

Much of the press conference consisted of a highly detailed narrative of what it was like for troops – from officers to enlisted privates – in the Middle East as Iran’s very brief retaliatory missile strike rained down on Qatar, and US-manned anti-air batteries intercepted the inbound projectiles. There was also a lot of focus on the pilots and crew of the B-2s and their marathon 37-hour bombing run all the way from Missouri to Tehran and back. The presser, especially while Hegseth was speaking, was charged with patriotism and emotion – much more than is normal for a Pentagon press briefing. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine emphasized in a detailed way the specs of the 30,000 pound bombs dropped on the Iranian sites, and they “functioned as designed, meaning they exploded.”

“A point that I want to make here: the Joint Force does not do [battle damage assessments],” Caine told the press pool. “By design, we don’t grade our own homework. The intelligence community does. But here’s what we know following the attacks and the strikes on Fordow: First, that the weapons were built, tested and loaded properly. Two, the weapons were released on speed and on parameters. Three, the weapons all guided to their intended targets and to their intended aim points. Four, the weapons functioned as designed, meaning they exploded. We know this through other means intelligence means that we have that were visibly, we were visibly able to see them. And we know that the trailing jets saw the first weapons function.” He actually cited one pilot’s eyewitness account as saying the blast from the initial bombs was so big as it was like an overwhelming flash of daylight.

Among the more interesting assertions and revelations was that the Pentagon has been working intensely on the operation, particularly to take out the Fordow site, for-15 years. While the US military often spends a lot of time on various ‘contingency’ options to present to the Commander-in-Chief, Gen. Caine’s description of two Pentagon analysts who devoted a decade-and-a-half of their lives to studying just Fordow strongly suggests the US long ago knew it would pull the trigger at some point. “In the days preceding the attack against Fordow, the Iranians attempted to cover the shafts with concrete to try to prevent an attack. I won’t share the specific dimensions of the concrete cap, but you should know that we know what the dimensions of those concrete caps were,” Caine said. “The planners had to account for this, they accounted for everything. The cap was forcibly removed by the first weapon, and the main shaft was uncovered.”

And President Trump soon after the Pentagon briefing ended, wrote the following on Truth Social:


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Comparing the two is useless. Just ask Russia.

• Iran Truce Could Inspire Ukraine Peace – Witkoff (RT)

A ceasefire between Iran and Israel, declared this week after a brief escalation, could influence the Ukraine conflict, US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff has said, expressing hope for renewed peace efforts between Kiev and Moscow. The hostilities began on June 13 when Israel launched strikes on Iran, claiming Tehran was close to developing a nuclear bomb – allegations denied by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and US intelligence. The US joined the campaign – which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a step to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons – by striking Iranian nuclear sites. A ceasefire brokered by Washington came into effect on Tuesday. In a CNBC interview on Wednesday, Witkoff said the truce could serve as a model for resolving other conflicts. “We are hopeful that this will lead to some very, very, very good things happening in the Russia-Ukraine resolution.”

Russia has criticized the US bombing campaign, calling it a dangerous escalation and a violation of international law. The Foreign Ministry warned that these actions risk further destabilizing the region.Witkoff was reportedly instrumental in brokering the ceasefire after a brief but intense conflict between Iran and Israel that left hundreds dead in Iran, 25 in Israel, and thousands injured on both sides, according to official sources. He has also been a key figure behind kickstarting the Ukraine peace process. Russia and Ukraine resumed direct talks in Türkiye last month, reviving a diplomatic process that was paused by Kiev in 2022 after it opted to pursue victory on the battlefield with Western assistance.

At their most recent meeting on June 2, Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange prisoners and presented draft memorandums outlining their visions for a peace agreement. However, each side currently views the other’s terms as unacceptable. Russia has stressed that any lasting agreement must reflect the current battlefield realities and Ukrainian neutrality. Trump, who vowed during the 2024 presidential election campaign to resolve the Ukraine conflict within 24 hours, recently described the promise as “sarcastic.” He has repeatedly voiced frustration with both sides, warning that the US could impose sanctions on both Russia and Ukraine if the conflict does not come to an end soon.

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War of words.

And: “..a concert by the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, which goes back nearly 100 years.”

Persia’s past.

• Ayatollah Claims ‘Victory’ Over Israel Which ‘Almost Collapsed’ (ZH)

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday issued his first comments since the Trump-backed ceasefire with Israel took effect, congratulating “the great nation of Iran” for its “victory over the fake Zionist regime.” “Despite all that noise, and with all those claims, the Zionist regime almost collapsed and was crushed under the blows of the Islamic Republic,” he said, according to the national IRNA news agency. He also claimed to have “delivered a slap to America’s face.” At a moment the Trump administration is celebrating to ‘obliteration’ of the Islamic Republic’s core elements and main facilities of its nuclear program, the Ayatollah downplayed the effects of the military campaign. He described that the United States entered the war along Israel’s side “because they felt that if they did not enter, the Zionist regime would be destroyed.” He presented this as a sign of Israeli weakness, echoing prior statements issued during the aerial raids.

“However, the Americans did not gain anything in this war,” he asserted. He went to say that those that attacked Iran suffered a high cost. According to more from state media translation: “We thank God for aiding our armed forces, who managed to breach their advanced multilayered defense systems and flatten large parts of their military and urban centers with powerful missile and weapons strikes,” he said.Ayatollah Khamenei said it proves to the Zionist regime that aggression against the Islamic Republic comes with a high cost that it will have to pay, crediting both the armed forces and the people of the Islamic Republic for the glorious victory. The last couple days since the ceasefire has held saw throngs of people come out into Tehran streets, to demonstrate in solidarity with the military, and to show defiance and that the 12-days of attacks did not bring the nation to its knees.

There have been other signs of symbolic defiance and resistance as well, including public events and a concert by the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, which goes back nearly 100 years. On Wednesday, in the city’s popular Azadi Square, reports described: As residents gathered for the performance, the orchestra played “Ey Iran,” the country’s unofficial national anthem that has long been considered a song of national pride and resistance and had once been banned by the Islamic Republic due to its association with anti-government sentiment. Established in 1933, the orchestra has survived multiple regimes, coups, revolution and wars, widely seen as a symbol of resilience. Its hardest days came during the term of hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when the orchestra was disbanded due to sanctions, financial difficulties and negligence.

In total over 630 Iranians died and thousands were injured in the strikes, with Israel also claiming to have assassinated at least 14 Iranian nuclear scientists and many more high-ranking military commanders. But Israel, and Tel Aviv especially, had whole building and neighborhoods leveled, and had some of its military command centers hit by Iranian ballistic and hypersonic missiles. On the other side, much of Tehran was destroyed, and the Iranians admit that key nuclear facilities suffered significant damage; however, they have pledged that nuclear energy development will continue as a matter of national sovereignty.

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“Let’s pre-empt Israel’s pressure for more war by supporting Trump’s statement that there is no longer a nuclear threat from Iran.”

• Let Trump Save Us from War with Iran (Paul Craig Roberts)

The ongoing pundit discussions whether or not the US attack destroyed the three Iranian nuclear facilities, which might or might not have been involved in developing a weapon, with many challenging the Trump administration’s report that all three facilities were destroyed, is stupid and even dangerous. The whore media, incapable of thought, is desperate to do Trump in on any and every thing. Why are intelligent analysts keeping the issue alive for the biased media? I won’t name them, but they need to think before they speak. Why? At this time based on the information I have been able to gather, Gilbert Doctorow appears to be correct that the Trump administration’s claim, whether true or not, has eliminated Netanyahu’s only reason for war with Iran. We should be thankful.

War with Iran is more dangerous than Washington, Moscow, Beijing, Tel Aviv, and Tehran know. Iran is a more formidable opponent than the five Muslim countries Washington has destroyed for Israel. Iran can do damage to Israel, to US bases and naval assets in the region, and to world economies by closing the Strait of Hormuz and raising the oil price by restricting the supply.Additionally, Iran is a strategic buffer for Russia. If Iran is put into chaos, inflow the CIA’s jihadists into the Muslim provinces of the Russian Federation. If Iran’s oil falls under US control, China is cut off from an important part of its energy supply. So far, Russia and China are standing apart from Iran. But what happens when China doesn’t want to lose another round of oil investments like Washington caused China in Libya when Gaddafi was overthrown?

What happens when Putin realizes, if he ever does, that the demise of Iran opens Russia to CIA jihadists? Having foolishly stood aside, Russia and China would have to enter the conflict. What would be the consequences?How much better if Russia and China had prevented the conflict by placing Iran under their nuclear umbrella or by publicly announcing a mutual defense treaty among the three countries. But there was no vision. Russia and China, having failed in their responsibility, left the problem with President Trump. On our side, let us not discredit Trump’s claim and, by doing so, resurrect Netanyahu’s justification for war with Iran. It would be difficult for Trump to resist Netanyahu’s pressure given Israel’s extraordinary influence in the US. Let’s pre-empt Israel’s pressure for more war by supporting Trump’s statement that there is no longer a nuclear threat from Iran.

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“..Trump was compelled to announce his ceasefire on June 23 to save Israel from running out of interceptors..”

• The Damage Iran Has Inflicted On Israel (Helmer)

Why do so many CIA and MI6 officers (retired) know and say so much about the damage Israel and the US have inflicted on Iran since they began their war on June 13, but so little about the damage Iran has inflicted on Israel? “As you know,” President Donald Trump said last night, following the NATO summit meeting in The Netherlands, “last weekend the United States successfully carried out a massive precision strike on Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities. And it was very, very successful. It was called obliteration. No other military on earth could have done it. And now this incredible exercise of American strength has paved the way for peace with a historic ceasefire agreement late Monday.”

He then asked his Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth to clarify how to interpret the military intelligence reporting from “the group [Defense Intelligence Agency] that’s run by this gentleman, in fact, he may want to talk about it for a second.” Hegseth: “somebody somewhere is trying to leak something to say — oh, with low confidence – [that] we think maybe it’s moderate. Those that drop the bombs precisely in the right place know exactly what happened when that exploded. And you know who else knows? Iran. That’s why they came to the table right away because their nuclear capabilities have been set back — back beyond what they thought were [sic] possible because of the courage of a commander in chief who led our troops, despite what the fake news wants to say.”

By this intelligence reporting standard, escalation of force by the US has compelled Iran to negotiate terms of capitulation which it was refusing to accept before June 13. But what, according to this intelligence standard, has been motivating Israel to accept Trump’s ceasefire? The answer to that is the most classified secret the Trump Administration, the Israeli government, and the Jewish financiers of Trump’s election campaigns are keeping. This is also a secret so sensitive that not one of the US media Trump is attacking dares to publish it. The secret is simple: Israel was desperate to have Trump call the ceasefire in order to obtain emergency resupply of US air defence missiles. And Trump was in just as much hurry because the cost which Iran’s war has imposed on the US defence budget is more money than Trump currently has the legal authorization to spend.

According to this painstaking analysis of the available intelligence, “between the start of the war on June 13 and the announcement of a ceasefire on June 23, a race was under way. The Israelis were racing to destroy Iranian missiles and launchers before the Iranians launched enough missile salvos to deplete the Israeli interceptor magazine. Considering estimates placed Iranian ballistic missile stocks at about 2,000-3,000 before the war started, the Iranians would eventually exhaust Israeli interceptors if they weren’t attrited, making the left-of-launch or missile-defeat element of the Israeli strategy critical. If the Iranians had the missiles and launchers available to continue generating salvos against Israel, there would have come an inflection point in the amount of damage they were able to do, and that inflection point would have arrived once Israel ran out of interceptors.”

This is the intelligence assessment for Israel, Trump and Hegseth they are not acknowledging: “a lot of interceptors have [been] fired in less than two weeks. 39 THAAD interceptors in nearly the full loadout of a 6 launcher THAAD battery without a reload, 48, so that system may be close to being out of interceptors. It seems likely it was deployed with reloads based on the satellite imagery, but considering the number of Iranian strikes missing from Abbadi’s videos, I think this is a fair judgement. Similarly, 34 Arrow-3s is a lot, nearly double the number used in October. While there is little insight into how deep Israel’s Arrow-3 magazine is, the presence of THAAD in Israel suggests it may not be much deeper. Nevertheless, based on the [Wall Street Journal ] reporting and this data, it seems likely that Israel and the U.S. THAAD battery are hurting for interceptors.”

That last phrase means Trump was compelled to announce his ceasefire on June 23 to save Israel from running out of interceptors as Iran accelerated its strikes, according to the rope-a-dope strategy reported here.

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Why? They’ve been doing it for ten years…

• Netanyahu’s Corruption Trial Should Be ‘Canceled’ – Trump (RT)

US President Donald Trump has called for an end to the corruption trial of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, days after Israel and Iran reached a ceasefire. Trump showered his Middle Eastern ally with praise in a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday evening. “Bibi Netanyahu was a WARRIOR, like perhaps no other Warrior in the History of Israel,” he wrote. He hailed Netanyahu’s leadership during Israel’s conflict with Iran and slammed the allegations against him as “politically motivated.” “Such a WITCH HUNT, for a man who has given so much, is unthinkable to me,” the US president wrote. “Bibi Netanyahu’s trial should be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY, or a Pardon given to a Great Hero, who has done so much for the State..

Netanyahu, whose trial began in 2020, denies any wrongdoing in three separate cases involving charges of corruption and influence peddling. He is Israel’s first sitting prime minister to take the stand as a criminal defendant. Under Israeli law, Netanyahu is not required to resign unless convicted by the Supreme Court. Netanyahu has praised Trump’s support for Israel and his “historic” decision to carry out strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities on June 22. The ceasefire, which ended nearly two weeks of open hostilities between Iran and Israel, took effect on Tuesday and has so far been upheld.

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He doesn’t want to. But Europe is pushing.

• Trump To Consider Future Ukraine Aid (RT)

US President Donald Trump says he will think about whether or not to supply more Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine, as Kiev has been requesting. Speaking at a press conference in The Hague after meeting with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit, Trump was asked by a BBC Ukraine journalist whether Washington would be providing the missiles. “The systems are very hard to get,” he replied, adding that the US also needs them. Noting that some Patriots were being sent to Israel, Trump said the administration would “see if we can make some of them available.”

Ahead of the meeting, Zelensky said that Kiev was ready to buy the systems and “support American weapons manufacturers” if Washington refused to donate them. The Ukrainian leader has previously asserted that the Patriot was the only system that could viably counter Russian missiles. However, Moscow has disputed claims about the Patriot’s effectiveness, and even Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yury Ignat acknowledged in an interview with Le Monde last month that the American system has shown critical limitations against Russia’s weaponry.

As of May, Ukraine reportedly had six operational Patriot systems, most of which were donated by the US and Germany, with additional components provided by the Netherlands and Romania. Zelensky has previously stated that Ukraine aimed to acquire a total of 25 units and urged Kiev’s European backers to fund the purchase of another ten at a cost of $15 billion. The Trump administration had dismissed the proposal as a pipedream. When asked directly whether the US would contribute to the $5 billion in military aid pledged to Ukraine by other NATO countries, Trump only told reporters that the hostilities must end.

Trump has pushed for a negotiated settlement to the Ukraine conflict since taking office in January, while voicing frustration over the slow pace of peace talks. On Wednesday, he said that he planned to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin in hopes of bringing the conflict to an end, though he did not specify when the conversation might take place. Earlier this week, he said he hoped to reach a “deal with Russia” to stop the fighting. Moscow has maintained that it is willing to hold talks “without preconditions,” but insists that any lasting agreement must reflect the current realities on the battlefield and establish Ukrainian neutrality.

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“..no one can make a beautiful place on top of dead bodies of women and children.”

• Brazil’s Lula Tells Trump To Spend Less Time Posting (RT)

US President Donald Trump should focus on running his country instead of spending too much time on social media, his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has said. Trump has published more than 2,100 posts on his Truth Social platform since returning to the White House on January 20, issuing 17 messages per day on an average, The Independent reported in early June. He was even more active online during the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran this month, in which he warned both sides not to violate the US-brokered ceasefire in a Truth Social post. Lula criticized Trump’s extensive use of social media in an interview with the news site g1 on Wednesday, saying, “in this troubled world, where we have a president of a country the size of the US, who must watch his words, think about what he says, must spend less time on the internet and more heading the state, must think more about free trade, multilateralism, must care more about peace.”

“And what do we see every day in the press? The need for goddamn headlines,” the Brazilian leader said. In an interview with The Atlantic in April, Trump revealed how his Truth Social posts are made. “I go quickly as hell. You would be amazed. You would be impressed. And I like doing them myself. Sometimes I dictate them out, but I like doing them myself.” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers previously defended Trump’s use of social media, saying it makes him “the most transparent president in history and is meeting the American people where they are to directly communicate his policies, message, and important announcements.”

Lula has attacked Trump, who had good relations with former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, on a number of occasions in recent months. In February, he said the US president was elected to govern his country, “not rule the world.” In March, during the standoff over tariffs announced by Washington, Lula stated: “There is no point in Trump shouting from over there because I learned not to be afraid of an angry face.” Regarding Trump’s plans to turn Gaza into a posh resort, Lula said, “no one can make a beautiful place on top of dead bodies of women and children.”

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“Accepting a country that is at war with Russia would immediately drag the EU into a direct conflict. It is unfair to expect any member state to take this risk..,”

• Orbán Tells Zelensky On X: The EU Was Created For Peace, Not War (RMX)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is leading an effort to ensure Ukraine, which is currently at war with Russia, does not join the European Union due to the high potential for a conflict that could spread to all of Europe. In this regard, he is now confronting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky directly on X on the issue. “President (Zelensky), with all due respect: the European Union was founded to bring peace and prosperity to its member states. Accepting a country that is at war with Russia would immediately drag the EU into a direct conflict. It is unfair to expect any member state to take this risk,” wrote Orbán. Orbán had responded to a post from Zelensky, in which the Ukrainian leader thanked EU leadership after a meeting, stating that they discussed, among other things, Ukraine’s ascension into the EU.

Citing his meeting with EU commission President Ursula von der Leyen, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and European Council President António Costa, Zelensky called out Hungary. “It is important that the leaders of the member states reach a common decision to open the first negotiation cluster. It is unfair when a single party blocks the Union’s decision. We also discussed in detail additional sanctions against the Russian Federation and the preparation of the EU’s 18th sanctions package. This package must significantly increase pressure on Russia’s energy and banking sectors, as well as on the shadow fleet.

The key element here must be a strong price cap on Russian oil, and we count on the appropriate decisions. I thank the leaders for their support. Every step of assistance means lives saved,” he wrote.] Zelensky desires an accelerated process to gain EU membership, despite his country being the most corrupt country in Europe — a finding noted even before the war. The rebuilding of Ukraine is expected to cost hundreds of billions of euros. Currently, the country has no democracy or free press, as all elections have been suspended during the war. Perhaps of greatest concern is that even if Ukraine is admitted to the EU during a ceasefire, hostilities could start again, which could drag Europe further into a new war.

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“She went on to praise the tribunal as a “forensic body that documents the truth the West refuses to hear.”

• Ukraine Deliberately Exterminating Civilians In Donbass – Moscow (RT)

Ukrainian forces are deliberately committing atrocities against civilians in Donbass, including mass killings of the elderly and drone strikes on residential homes, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. Zakharova delivered the remarks on Thursday while speaking at a conference on the “atrocities and war crimes by the Kiev regime in Dzerzhynsk,” a city some 30km north of Donetsk that was liberated by Russian troops in February. The conference featured a report including testimonies from over 30 civilians recounting the “genocide” policies pursued by Ukrainian troops while they controlled the city. The event was organized by the Public Tribunal on the Crimes of Ukrainian Neo-Nazis, which includes representatives of civil society from 35 countries worldwide.

Zakharova noted that the testimonies detail “horrific episodes of neo-Nazi atrocities and confirms terror against the civilian population.” “This is not an accident, but an inherent flaw – the hallmark of the Kiev authorities. It is a deliberate policy that has already been elevated to the level of state doctrine,” she stressed. The spokeswoman pointed to evidence of mass killings, which included “executions of the elderly and children,” adding that other atrocities included drone strikes on civilian homes. She went on to praise the tribunal as a “forensic body that documents the truth the West refuses to hear.” The body, Zakharova added, “is doing what international human rights organizations should be doing if they had remained true to their mission. It shows that all the crimes we are talking about have specific perpetrators, clients, and patrons.”

Among the document cases was a story by one witness, who recounted a deadly drone attack in the city: “When we were evacuating, the Armed Forces of Ukraine dropped bombs on us. They sent a kamikaze drone to search for us… I received six shrapnel wounds… My father and grandmother died.” Another witness recalls an incident in which an elderly woman went out to feed kittens, but was killed by a grenade dropped from a Ukrainian UAV. One local resident also suggested that the Ukrainians “killed a lot of people just because [they] needed a picture” to be circulated in the media and used to falsely accuse Russia of strikes on civilians. Russian officials have said that Moscow will do everything in its power to bring those responsible for the Ukrainian atrocities to justice.

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They don’t want to talk; they want to fight – but only if Trump does too…

• EU Must Prepare To Talk To Russia – Macron (RT)

EU member states should consider resuming contact with Moscow, which was severed after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron has told reporters. According to Macron, despite being fully committed to boosting military capabilities within NATO, the bloc’s European members have no wish to “endlessly” arm themselves and should in the near future negotiate a new security framework with Moscow. “We are not going to go towards an endless escalation, towards more armament. We must arm ourselves because today there is a gap between our level of armament and that of Russia. And that poses a threat,” Macron stated on Wednesday.

“At the same time, we must think about the security framework in which we want to live tomorrow,” he said. “That’s why we need to rethink [the security architecture] in the territories from the Black Sea to the Arctic, to determine how far we are willing to go to defend ourselves and what would be the terms of the discussion with Russia to make it possible to limit military capabilities and restore trust.” Macron advised member states to “think about” restoring dialogue with Russia “right now” in order to be able to negotiate broader European security as part of a potential Ukraine peace deal.

Macron made the remarks at the NATO summit in The Hague, where members committed to hiking defense spending to 5% of their GDP annually by 2035 in order to address the alleged “long-term threat posed by Russia to Euro-Atlantic security.” US President Donald Trump has repeatedly urged European NATO members to take more responsibility for their security and increase defense spending. Commenting on the hike, which one reporter called a “one-man whim,” Macron said it is both Washington’s wish and a “European necessity” to become more independent militarily.

Moscow has stressed that it has no intention of attacking any NATO member states, dismissing the claims as “nonsense” and scare tactics used by Western officials to justify increased defense spending. Asked to disclose what NATO’s warnings of a Russian threat were based on at the NATO summit, Secretary-General Mark Rutte did not provide any specific intelligence assessments, instead citing general fears. Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused NATO of “fueling global militarization and an arms race” by fabricating “horror stories” to extract money from citizens of member states.

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“Slovakia has gone from being a country at the beginning of the pipe to a country at the end of the pipe…There may be shortages, prices will go up… RePowerEU is harmful..”

• Slovakia To Veto New Russia Sanctions – PM Fico

Slovakia will block the EU’s 18th sanctions package against Russia unless Brussels resolves its concerns over the planned phase-out of Russian energy, Prime Minister Robert Fico has announced. Although the energy measures are set to be presented as trade legislation – thus needing only a qualified majority for approval – Fico argues that they relate to sanctions and should be treated as such.The issue stems from the European Commission’s RePowerEU plan, which aims to eliminate all Russian energy imports by 2028. The initiative is due to be discussed at the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels, alongside the new sanctions package, which mostly targets Russia’s energy and financial sectors. Fico has insisted the measures against Russian energy actually fall under the bloc’s sanctions regime and should be unanimously approved. Fico said Slovakia will request a postponement of the vote and, if denied, will vote against it.

“As for tomorrow’s vote, Slovakia will not vote on the 18th sanctions package,” he stated at a parliamentary committee meeting on Thursday. “We consider it to be one package that includes RePowerEU, and we believe that unless the fundamental issues are resolved, we cannot adopt any further sanctions.” He warned that the regulation would endanger Slovakia’s energy security and cause price hikes. He also noted that Brussels has yet to provide answers on how it would compensate for rising gas prices or handle potential arbitration with Gazprom. Fico warned that if Slovakia breaks its long-term supply contract with the Russian energy giant, it could face up to €20 billion ($23 billion) in penalties. “Let’s take this seriously. Slovakia has gone from being a country at the beginning of the pipe to a country at the end of the pipe…There may be shortages, prices will go up… RePowerEU is harmful,” he said, calling the initiative “ideological nonsense.”

Hungary has also voiced opposition to the plan. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Budapest and Bratislava had jointly blocked the package when it was discussed at the foreign ministers’ meeting earlier this week, warning that the proposed phase-out would “destroy Hungary’s energy security” and sharply raise utility costs. He signaled that Hungary also planned to vote against the new sanctions package. Moscow has repeatedly condemned sanctions as illegal and self-defeating, particularly those targeting energy, noting how energy prices in the EU surged after the initial measures against Russia were imposed in 2022. Commenting on the sanctions debates, Kremlin investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev praised Slovakia and Hungary on X for “doing what Brussels won’t: fighting to keep the EU globally competitive.”

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“The myth of genocidal invincibility has been shattered forever. The whole Global South has seen it, and now takes it in serious consideration.”

• The Ceasefire Kabuki (Pepe Escobar)

In the end, predictably, the Circus Ringmaster went TACO (“Trump Always Chickens Out”). He was terrified by three crucial reality-based developments. The Iranian message on preparing to close the Strait of Hormuz. The CIA had warned Trump that China was viscerally opposed to the Strait being blocked. That’s one of the reasons, according to a Deep State old hand, that Trump decided to go ahead anyway with his “spectacular” (sic) theatrical op on Fordow. But when the specter of a blocked Hormuz destroying the global economy became real, he went TACO.The Iranian warning conveyed by the bombing of the Al-Udeid base in Qatar, the military jewel in the imperial crown in West Asia. Even Atlanticist sources in Doha confirm the damage to the – evacuated – base was “monumental”, with at least 3 missiles hitting their targets. Tehran was unmistakably saying we can hit you anywhere, anytime, with anything we want. And your GCC lackeys will blame you for it.

Arguably the key reason: the genocidals in Tel Aviv are running out of interceptors – fast; in fact their whole – porous – air defense network is in trouble. In the last substantial Iranian missile volley on occupied Palestine on Monday morning, interception rate fell below 50%, and Iran started targeting Israel’s electric grid. Iran’s new directive – strategic offense, not patience – was meant to completely paralyze the Israeli economy. On top of it the genocidals had already begged Tehran to “end the war”. Tehran answered the time had not yet arrived. So the genocidals begged Daddy Trump to rescue them. The chain of events leading to the ceasefire remains murky. A key accelerating factor was Putin’s personal meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi at the Kremlin on Monday.

Speaking on behalf of Ayatollah Khamenei, Araghchi may have asked for a solid supply of weapons and most of all defense systems; but these will take time, especially considering that the strategic partnership recently approved by both the Duma and the Majlis in Tehran is not – officially – a military alliance. Yet according to sources in Moscow who were informed about the meeting, Putin did position Russia at the center of a possible resolution, thus displacing Washington. Team Trump 2.0 was incensed. Trump boasted that both Iran and Israel had called him almost simultaneously to arrance a ceasefire. Nonsense: only Tel Aviv did. As Putin made it clear, once again, that Russia would back Iran, he indirectly offered Trump an off-ramp.

True to character, the Circus Ringmaster jumped on it, marketing his own, branded ceasefire, reality show-style. And this only two days after gloating that the Iranian nuclear program was “obliterated” (he insists on it even as U.S. intel admits the program may have been set back for only a matter of months). Iran has learned a few important lessons the hardest way, paying a horrendous price. Tehran was way too transparent and reasonable dealing with a bunch of gangsters: from allowing IAEA nuclear monitoring that turned out to be a process of amassing precious intel for Israeli targeting; and believing in diplomacy and honoring agreements that were unceremoniously ditched.

There’s no diplomacy when it comes to dealing with the imperial Leviathan/Behemoth – especially as it contemplates, in horror, its frootprint being reduced all across the Global South.Domestically though, Iran is going to the next level. There are at least three factions in confrontation: Ayatollah Khamenei and his close circle plus the IRGC; the reformists, embodied by the meek Pezeshkian presidency; and what could be construed as secular nationalists, who want a strong Iran but not as a theo-democracy. The IRGC now has all the power. Defending the homeland against the deadly Zionist axis, Empire included, crystalized a widespread sentiment of national unity and pride. All sectors of the Iranian population – 90 million, someone tell pathetic Marco Rubio – rallied around the flag.

Conceptually, the ceasefire – nobody knows how long it will last – is adverse to Iran, because its increasing deterrence capacity is now lost. Israel will have its air defenses feverishly replenished while Iran, alone, will need months and even years to rebuild. The imperial modus operandi remains the same. The Circus Ringmaster saw that a monster humiliation was at hand –something like Israel’s Vietnam: so he announced a one-sided ceasefire and fled. Yet the configuration for the next battles has changed. If Washington decides to escalate again, or resorts to the certified practice of using terror proxies, Iran as the de facto leader of the Resistance will resolutely counter-attack. The myth of genocidal invincibility has been shattered forever. The whole Global South has seen it, and now takes it in serious consideration.

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“..the least the Americans and Israel could scrape back out of the busted flush would be some political capital by hitting the sites with the bunker busters..”

• Is Donald Trump Really Running The Iran Show? (Jay)

Is Donald Trump in charge of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East or is he following the orders of others? Few if any analysts in recent days can fail to admit that they’ve been outfoxed by the Donald since Iran air strikes began by Israel on June 13th. Most, including the author, were baffled by how Trump could be the first president ever in the U.S. to sign off on the strikes and then break all convention again by putting himself in the history books with the bunker buster attacks, which we are told have destroyed three of Iran’s underground nuclear storage facilities. And now just recently, after the B2 strikes we witnessed Iran launch token missile attacks on U.S. bases which were really more than anything else a PR stunt for Tehran and not intended to actually harm any U.S. soldiers of hardware installed there.

We now know that the Iranians warned the Americans beforehand and so are we led to believe that there is a cordial, if not amiable, relationship in place between Iran and the U.S.? What are we witnessing exactly? It’s important to remember that the U.S. and Iran have two different objectives. But seen in the clear light of day, it may still be possible that those pundits who insisted Trump didn’t have the guts to go ahead with the bunker buster strikes might still be right. It might not have actually been the Donald who ordered the strike. It is entirely feasible that most of what we are seeing on mainstream media and even on social media threads are, at best twisted or, at worse completely concocted. There are a number of scenarios which might explain the events of recent days.

The first one is that Israel is controlling the entire operation from the beginning and Trump is playing the role of a spectator who gets most of the credit. Part of this scenario is that Mossad might have got intelligence that the centrifuges from the underground bunkers were being moved – or had already been moved – and so the least the Americans and Israel could scrape back out of the busted flush would be some political capital by hitting the sites with the bunker busters. Are you curious about the reports that they did little damages? Do you find it odd that experts are saying that for the strikes to be effective, they should not have been carried out in the way the B2 bombers dropped their payloads?

One explanation is that Trump was told that the centrifuges were no longer there and so all that was required would be to damage the sites sufficiently to tick the box and show Iran that the U.S. has the option always of using them in the future. In other words, despite everything, there are still backchannel talks going on and a deal is still there to be made. Some experts are leading us to believe that the Iranians played a master card by carrying out the strikes on U.S. airbases in the region as this would defuse the tensions and pave the way for a ceasefire. An “off ramp” for everyone it is often described. But there is a huge division of joined up thinking on what happens next. Many still believe that Trump (or the deep state and Israel which control him) thinks that regime change is not really an objective of whoever is running the show.

It is as though Trump is allowed some bandwidth here for his own ideas as he is fixated on getting a better nuclear deal signed than the Obama one which he annulled while Israel would prefer a regime change and to get their own people in to run the country more or less as a western satellite. The last time Israel had this idea in the region was in the summer of 1982 when its forces had invaded Lebanon and plans were afoot to install their preferred candidate Bashir Gemeyel as president. Gemeyel hadn’t even taken office before he was assassinated on the instructions of Syria. In the coming days it will be critical how Israel respects the ceasefire. Probably it won’t as it’s often the style of Israel to break the very deals it signs.

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“This EU [..] failed to realize that the war in Ukraine, fueled by the violation of Minsk and NATO’s expansion into the country, was a war against itself.”

• A European Body Suffering From Acute Trumpitis (Dionísio)

If the EU has not yet realized what is at stake in Israel’s aggression against Iran, it is serious and should not reassure us. If it has realized and persists in the error, it is even more concerning. It means that the European Union is a body dominated by a spinal column—the Franco-German-British axis—which, instead of coordinating and balancing its members, alienates and disorganizes them, undoubtedly feeding off them and continuing to do so in a future where nothing will remain but the body itself. We are all experiencing firsthand, in our skin, pockets, and stomachs, the consequences of how the revanchist, neo-fascist, and reactionary right exploits immigration to influence national and European politics and seize power.

In this context, where neo-fascist and neo-Nazi influence manifests in attacks on immigration, xenophobia against Asians, Muslims, or Africans, violence against minorities and political opponents, is the EU prepared for an uncontrolled and absolutely massive wave of migration? Amid an unparalleled energy crisis, accompanied by brutal price increases, will it be ready to receive—or be “invaded,” as they say—by millions of desperate people legitimately seeking work and better living conditions? The civilizational gravity of the moment we live in is proven by how Trump behaved once in office. His attitude is representative of how fascism operates in its neo-fascist version, whether dressed in an Armani suit and a white condom or not.

Anything goes to seize power, and once achieved, “the people,” “the workers,” are forgotten, while loyalty to the oligarchic donors of electoral funds is honored, supporting monopolies, relieving the richest of tax burdens, and increasing taxes on the poorest. Consequently, the president elected to end the eternal wars draining the U.S. budget is, in fact, the one working hardest to bring us World War III. Nothing new here: Zelensky had already risen to power in the same way. Faced with the desperation of European peoples for better living conditions and stability, it has become too easy to manipulate their will and achieve significant electoral results.

This EU, itself undergoing a neo-fascist reconquest, formally or materially, failed to realize that the war in Ukraine, fueled by the violation of Minsk and NATO’s expansion into the country, was a war against itself. Three years later, as expected, the EU is worse off in every way: a weaker Euro, overtaken by the Yuan as the most sought-after reserve and exchange currency; a weak and anemic economy; loss of important markets; loss of essential energy resources and raw materials in quality and quantity, with no replacement in sight; loss of the Fourth Industrial Revolution train. At least we have Kaja Kallas, content with the fact that “the Russian Federation has lost billions due to sanctions,” while “the EU is the largest contributor to the Ukrainian cause.” A meager prize: being first on the podium of those losing the most billions with Ukraine’s defeat!

As if this weren’t enough, after failing to prevent the rift with the Russian Federation, the EU was unable to foresee that the destruction of Libya, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and the end of the JCPOA under Trump 1.0 would trigger a massive wave of refugees and “economic” migrants. This wave is not only impossible to contain—as proven by the rafts in the Mediterranean—but also suddenly exploited by traffickers, employers hungry for cheap labor, and the revanchist and neo-fascist right, whose financiers exploit both the migrants and the disruptions caused by the sudden surge in demand for work and public services to seize power and make everything even more chaotic.

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“33-year-old Marxist Zohran Mamdani, is campaigning on a platform of free stuff paid for by the government (taxpayers)—even promoting his campaign in at least one foreign language. Keep in mind NYC is the mecca of sanctuary cities in America.”

• Trump Plans Mass Dismissal Of Asylum Claims, Fast-Track Deportations (ZH)

The Trump administration is preparing to dismiss asylum claims for potentially hundreds of thousands of migrants—primarily those who crossed the southern or northern borders illegally and later applied for protection—according to CNN, citing two sources. Once dismissed, these migrants would become immediately deportable under fast-track removal procedures, bypassing immigration court. Migrants who entered the U.S. unlawfully and sought asylum through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would be impacted if the new policy goes into effect. This could result in up to 250,000 migrants—out of the 1.45 million pending asylum cases—being slated for removal. The people being targeted in this case are those who entered the U.S. unlawfully and later applied for asylum, the sources said. Their cases are expected to be closed, therefore leaving them at risk of deportation. It could affect hundreds of thousands of asylum applicants.

According to a memo obtained by CNN, USCIS, which falls under the control of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, will place those migrants in fast-track deportation proceedings as well as “take additional actions to enforce civil and criminal violations of the immigration laws.”nUSCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser told the outlet that no agency changes have been “announced at this time,” adding that its “top priority remains the screening and vetting of all aliens seeking to come, live, or work in the United States. President Trump and Secretary Noem have given USCIS the ability to use all tools in our toolbox to ensure that the integrity of the immigration system is upheld, fraud is uncovered and expeditiously addressed, and illegal aliens are removed from the country.”

Earlier this month, President Trump directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement to ramp up operations in chaotic sanctuary cities run by far-left politicians working with dark money-funded NGOs to shield criminal illegal aliens from deportations. In one extreme case, a Los Angeles official reportedly called for Mexican gangs to mobilize against ICE agents. Meanwhile, the Democratic Party’s nominee for New York City mayor, 33-year-old Marxist Zohran Mamdani, is campaigning on a platform of free stuff paid for by the government (taxpayers)—even promoting his campaign in at least one foreign language. Keep in mind NYC is the mecca of sanctuary cities in America.

Understand where we are: Marxist-aligned Democrats are offering government handouts to migrants to establish a new, dependent voting class. This invasion—driven by a mass migration of third-worlders and supported by dark money-funded NGOs and the federal gov’t during the Biden-Harris regime—has been used to reshape the electorate. The Democratic Party’s political future entirely hinges on protecting criminal illegal aliens.

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