During my most recent appearance on Judge Napolitano’s Judging Freedom on Wednesday I expressed the view that the ongoing ceasefire between Washington and Tehran was a scam designed to support Israeli interests in the region and to give both Tel Aviv and the White House breathing room to prepare for the next major assault on Iran.

When Is a Ceasefire a Scam?

Trump and Israel will make sure the war against Iran continues

BY PHILIP GIRALD

“A moon will rise from my darkness.” This slightly adapted line comes from the English version of a poem by Mahmoud Darwish – one of the most important voices in modern Arabic literature. Born in 1941 in the Palestinian village of Al-Birwa, east of Acre, Darwish shared the experiences of flight, displacement, loss, and exile with hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. He found words for their suffering, their grief, their life in exile, and their enduring connection to their homeland – words that resonated widely and offered strength.
   

“A moon will rise from the darkness”

by Karin Leukefeld

During his tour of the Middle East early this month, Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Syria, a country that until recently was a close ally of Russia. The Ukrainian president's visit to the Syrian capital Damascus and his talks with his Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa mark the resumption and strengthening of Ukraine's diplomatic efforts in the region.

Ukraine and Syria tighten relations

Lilia Rzheutska

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to Syria was not only a diplomatic gesture but motivated by strategic considerations regarding Russia, once a strong supporter of the Middle Eastern state

The administration of US President Donald Trump is “weaponizing Christianity” to justify its actions in the Middle East, while Israel continues to act with impunity as much of the West turns a blind eye, Irish activist and satirist Tadhg Hickey has said.

Trump administration ‘weaponizing Christianity’ as Israel acts with impunity – activist

The US president’s rhetoric is unbecoming of a world leader while the West continues to turn a blind eye to Israeli crimes in Gaza and beyond, Tadhg Hickey has said....

As Journalists Are Killed, the World Looks Away

We reported on one of these deaths yesterday. Today, there are more.

President Donald Trump couldn’t get over European allies’ refusal to allow the U.S. access to military bases for the Iran war. And he made that clear to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Wednesday in an hourslong, closed-door rant that focused on little else.

What Trump’s blowup with Rutte was really about

The president’s tirade against NATO chief Mark Rutte stemmed from his frustration that allies wouldn’t let the U.S. access military bases for attacks against Iran.

By ELI STOKOLS, PAUL MCLEARY and JACK DETSCH

On the planet of the elevated ape

An old monkey like me dear

Can only admire Willy Shakespeare

Who could in six words state

The essence of my tragedy

                                   To be or not to be

with a question asked in fear

that small sapiens can hear

to applaud someone like Albert

Hiding our reality of relative might

Behind the mass of not much to the speed of light

By the square of itself not obviously why

Thus energy becomes impossible to fight

As we slip-on our rainbow tainted shirt

The unfortunate disease of unintelligentisis

Infects all our delinquent leading elders

Dumb as bricks elected like fish feathers

They never reach compos mentis 

Says a self-indulgent fired apprentice

The Farrer by-election could reveal whether Coalition voters are shifting towards One Nation or prefer independents, with implications for future political strategy.

The Farrer by-election offers the Liberal and National parties a unique opportunity to discover what their supporters truly think about how closely they should align themselves with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party.

David Solomon

Here is the non-news news flash up front — The alleged ceasefire between the United States and Iran is kaput. While there has been no official announcement stipulating that it is over, trust me, it is over. The copium in the Trump administration in particular, and in Washington, DC in general, is ridiculous…

Proclamations of a great military victory over Iran, without one shred of evidence that the US achieved any strategic objectives other than inspiring Iran to take control of the Strait of Hormuz and place the world economy in a supply-chain chokehold.

There was never any doubt in Donald Trump's mind that a wounded US airman trapped in Iran after his
fighter jet was shot down had to be rescued.
Even despite some US military leaders vehemently opposing the mission, fearing hundreds of Amencan troop deaths in any attempt to reach him.
The airman, known as "Dude Bravo 44," had only a pistol to defend himself as enemy fighters closed in.
He was bleeding "profusely", hiding in a crevice in a mountainous area described as "teeming with terrorists" with an emergency radio beacon and a futurstic tool to track his position.

After threatening to destroy Iran’s civilization ‘for now and ever’, Trump announced a tentative ceasefire with Iran and temporary ceasefire of mutual hostilities for another two weeks. In the interim the parties—US and Iran (Israel notably excluded)—will reportedly attempt to negotiate a permanent agreement in negotiations to be held in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Trump Announces Iran Ceasefire: US Offramp or Just Another Deception?

BY JACK RASMUS

This was always about Civilization.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” History will register it with a gaze as pitiless as the Sun. An astonishing barbarian imprimatur, courtesy of the President of the United States, via a social media post.

Barbaria strategically surrenders. Civilization wins. For now

BY Pepe ESCOBAR

In a nutshell, this was a trashy “civilization” that gave the world the Big Mac threatening to wipe out an ancient civilization that gave the world algebra; influenced art, science, governance in unparalleled ways; produced stars from Cyrus the Great to Avicenna, from Omar Khayyam to poet supreme Jalaladdin Rumi; developed serial, sublime gardens, carpets, architectural wonders and philosophical and ethical frameworks.

Prior to the expiration of Washington's "ultimatum" on Wednesday, the US and Iran announced a two-week interim ceasefire; delegations from both sides are scheduled to hold negotiations in Pakistan on Friday. Israel has also expressed its support for the US-Iran ceasefire.

Is it the dawn of a new age of truth in mainstream media? Rupert Murdoch’s The Australian has identified itself as The Israelian. What’s the scam?

“I think most thinking Australians are a bit sick of and immune to the bias The Israelian newspaper engages in favour of the genocidal ethnostate of Israel,” said a letter from politician Shaoquett Moselmane (screenshot below).

Murdoch’s The Australian finally identifies at The Israelian

by Michael West

What next … are there no 40 beheaded babies?