…your beliefs do not match reality so you're coming up with these rationalizations. 'What about this, what about that?' We are NOT doing that because we saw it happen. We saw a young bright man ASSASSlNATED and we know who did it."
"The media is DEAD to us on this story. They built this thing up. We are dealing with it, we are going to act. We don't care what the what about is anymore, that SHlT is dead!"
PREACH,
@greggutfeld
!
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2025 00:00 ||
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#1
Totally agree with Gutfeld's position.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
09/17/2025 6:19 Comments ||
Top||
BREAKING: Utah County District Attorney Jeff Gray just officially announced that they will be seeking the DEATH PENALTY against Tyler Robinson for the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
🚨 BREAKING: The Utah County Attorney has officially announced Charlie Kirk's kiIIer has been charged with SEVEN crimes, and the DEATH PENALTY will be sought
… causing bodily injury
- Count 3: Felony obstruction of justice for hiding the firearm
- Count 4: Felony obstruction of justice for discarding the clothing he wore during the shooting
- Count 5: Witness tampering for asking roommate to DELETE incriminating messages
- Count 6: Witness temperating for demanding trans roommate stay silent, and NOT speak to police
- Count 7: Commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child
Because the death penalty is being sought, Charlie's kiIIer will be held without bail.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2025 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, now we know where the crazy conspiracy theories came from and why Netanyahu denied being involved: Kirk's final appearance on Ben Shapiro before he died. People took this and ran with it, because they always do. Kirk was also starting to repeat the brainwashed "Jews fund open borders" garbage usually heard from the English Defence League and other scum.
#4
Death Row solitary for twenty years in the state pen while the case works through appeals? I can live with it. Especially if the young man has a revelation during that time and returns to the mindspace of his youth.
Posted by: Regular joe ||
09/17/2025 12:55 Comments ||
Top||
#7
the brainwashed "Jews fund open borders" garbage usually heard from the English Defence League and other scum.
I am starting to see this trope pop up in random places.
The Open Society Foundation is engaged in all sorts of international mischief. Their founder, George Soros, happens to be a Juice. Criticizing the Juice is antisemitic*. Therefore, criticizing Open Society villainy is antisemitic.
All very logical, like one of those syllogisms from logic class:
Socrates was a man.
All men are mortal.
Therefore, all men are Socrates.
QED, bitches!
* Unless the Juice in question is Benjamin Netanyahu, who is literally Hitler.
[TWZ] Historic Shuttered Navy Base Back In Action For Caribbean Counter-Drug Mission. In 2004, the Navy disposed of the former Naval Station Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico, but current events have seen it awaken once again.
The F-35B stealth fighters that landed in Puerto Rico on Saturday joined a growing U.S. military presence at the former Naval Station Roosevelt Roads. Though the Navy disposed of this sprawling facility more than two decades ago, it is now a major staging area for the Trump administration’s battle against narco traffickers and pressure campaign against Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. These counter-drug activities have some asking whether Roosevelt Roads, once considered surplus by the U.S. Navy, should be permanently reopened as a military installation.
Before the F-35s arrived, cargo aircraft like the C-5 Galaxy and C-17 Globemaster III were seen at the facility, now known as José Aponte de la Torre Airport. There were also U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and USMC CH-53K King Stallion helicopters present. The Marine aircraft are part of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Readiness Group (ARG) and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, which began a training exercise on Puerto Rico on August 31.
In addition to the aircraft, images showed U.S. Air Force personnel restoring the airport communications control tower, while others loaded and unloaded cargo and prepared for future operations.
All this activity is taking place as the U.S. is once again turning to Roosevelt Roads, which had provided support for America’s invasions of the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Grenada and Panama in decades past. While there are other facilities on the island also taking part, Roosevelt Roads has become a nexus of activity for this effort.
The 8,650-acre facility, located in the easternmost point of Puerto Rico’s main island in the town of Cieba, was opened in 1943. Its centerpiece is an 11,000-foot runway capable of supporting the U.S. military’s inventory of aircraft.
#1
...Gotta be almost 30 years now since the locals demanded that we get out of there, so DOD said, "Hokay."
At which point (much like the Philippines when we closed Subic Bay and Clark AFB) the locals did a double take and said, "You're not supposed to do that - you're supposed to give us lots of money!"
And they're not going to get anywhere near the number of jobs back that they had, either.
#4
Mike - I remember that pretty well. The PR elites thought they'd get pristine beaches they could develop and get rich after forcing Uncle to pay them, clean up all the unexploded ordinance, leave. Didn't work out that way with typical PR corruption
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/17/2025 9:15 Comments ||
Top||
#5
I was there in 84 when the hydrofoils were. They were very impressive and fast.
That also sounds like FT Monroe, VA, which by all rights should be the most expensive real estate on the Atlantic. But the EOD problem there is literally nightmarish - the location has been fortified since the late 1600s, and up until the end of WWII stuff was literally being thrown in the water or buried. At least one of the 12" coast defense gun magazines is still intact and off limits with live ammo inside, and the moat regularly gives up goodies. (When we were there in the 80s, they opened up one emplacement to expand the wonderful museum there and found four crates of Springfield muskets....and forty live cannonballs.)
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/17/2025 10:47 Comments ||
Top||
#5
The reactions to Dunya Hayali's comment are beyond disturbing as well. I'm talking about user comments on official Afd-accounts of members of Parliament.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
09/17/2025 11:11 Comments ||
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[GEO.TV] The European Union warned on Tuesday that Israel's ground assault on Gaza City will add to the toll of death and destruction, and worsen an already "catastrophic" humanitarian situation in the territory.
''The EU has consistently urged Israel not to intensify its operation in Gaza City,'' EU spokesman Anouar El Anouni said.
''A military intervention will lead to more destruction, more death and more displacement, and we have been clear that this will also aggravate the already catastrophic humanitarian situation and also endangers the lives of hostages.''
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2025 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[1759 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
[Xcancel] Open Source Intel
@Osint613
19h
MUST WATCH 🔴
A Dearborn, Michigan resident opposed naming a street after pro-Hezbollah figure Osama Siblani
…prominent Arab-American community leader and publisher of the Dearborn-based Arab American News, he is notorious for comments denying that Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorist organizations…
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud
…(D), Lebanese-American, the first Moslem mayor of Dearborn…
responded to the resident: “You do not belong in this city, Islamophobe! Get out!, you are not welcomed here”
#9
A phobia is an unreliable fear of something. Islamic governance and Sharia are things a sane person should be afraid of, and Moslem colonization brings both of those threats.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2025 00:00 ||
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[1785 views]
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#1
What a long, awkward conversation by two people born into a generation which knows there is no such thing as privacy at their level.
I'm trying to remember what movie I'm thinking of, when the character knows he is being listened to, but the conversation is totally awkward. Maybe Happy Gilmore when he reads the Subway ad script?
[GEO.TV] The UN rights chief condemned Israel's ground assault on Gaza City as "utterly unacceptable", demanding an end to the "carnage" and warning of growing evidence of genocide in the Palestinian territory.
"It is absolutely clear that this carnage must stop," United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk told AFP and Reuters when asked about the launch of Israel's long-anticipated ground assault on Gaza's largest city.
"The whole world screams for peace. Palestinians, Israelis scream for peace. Everyone wants an end to this, and what we see is a further escalation which is totally and utterly unacceptable," he said.
Turk highlighted that in recent days "we have seen expanding attacks in the northwestern parts of Gaza, where the population had sought shelter from previous attacks."
He decried in particular "the ongoing bombardment of residential buildings, buildings that have served as shelters for people who have been displaced multiple times".
"These attacks need to stop."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/17/2025 00:00 ||
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[1773 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
UN rights chief
Enemies general of humankind - to be delt with as wolves are!
[ZeroHedge] Israel delivered advanced air defense systems to Cyprus last week, marking the third shipment since December amid rising tensions with Turkey, sources familiar with the matter told Middle East Eye.
A video published on Thursday showed a truck passing through the port of Limassol transporting components of the Barak MX system, an aerial interceptor capable of striking threats up to 150km away. The Cypriot news site Reporter confirmed that the Barak MX system has now been fully delivered and is expected to become operational this year.
The delivery comes after Shay Gal, vice president of external relations at Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which manufactures the Barak MX, argued in a July article that Israel should reconsider its approach toward Cyprus and devise military plans to “liberate” the island's north from Turkish forces.
“Israel, in coordination with Greece and Cyprus, must prepare a contingency operation for liberating the island’s north,” Gal wrote. “Such an operation would neutralize Turkish reinforcement capabilities from the mainland, eliminate air-defense systems in northern Cyprus, destroy intelligence and command centers, and ultimately remove Turkish forces, restoring internationally recognized Cypriot sovereignty.”
Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974 after a failed coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece. Since then, Cyprus has remained divided between the internationally recognized Republic of Cyprus in the south and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognized only by Ankara.
So far, Ankara has remained silent about the newly deployed systems, which carry advanced surveillance and intelligence-gathering functions through their 3D radar. With a range of up to 460km, the system provides a “digital umbrella” that covers a significant part of southern Turkey’s airspace.
Turkey and southern Cyprus nearly came to war in 1997 after the latter attempted to acquire two Russian-made S-300 air defense missile systems, triggering threats of an all-out military response from Ankara.
The crisis ended when Greece accepted the S-300s on its territory, while Cyprus sought alternative systems. “This is a system far more dangerous than the S-300, which [southern Cyprus] ordered from Russia in 1997 but never deployed,” said Arda Mevlutoglu, a prominent Turkish defence analyst.
“Given the current state of military ties between Israel and the Greek Cypriot administration, this powerful air defense system and radar will undoubtedly become a central element of Israel’s intelligence network in the eastern Mediterranean.”
According to Mevlutoglu, the Barak MX poses a significant threat to Turkish air and ground forces both in Cyprus and across the wider eastern Mediterranean, as its radar is also capable of detecting artillery, mortar and rocket battery fire within 100km.
However, Reporter quoted a source suggesting that the Cypriot version of the Barak MX might not include all of its advertised features, since the system is customised for each client nation.
Yanki Bagcioglu, a retired rear admiral and deputy chairman of the Turkish opposition CHP party, called the system’s deployment a violation of international law. “This step will destabilise the fragile balance in the eastern Mediterranean and Cyprus, while directly threatening Turkey’s national security,” he said.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
09/17/2025 07:51 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1785 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
Yanki Bagcioglu, a retired rear admiral and deputy chairman of the Turkish opposition CHP party, called the system’s deployment a violation of international law.
An interesting view of international law these "people" have.
[IsraelNationalNews] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a press conference on the economy this evening (Tuesday) to clarify his remarks regarding Israel's political and economic isolation yesterday.
"Israel is a leading factor and the market economy will work as it has worked until now. Yes, there can be political, not economic, restrictions in the defense industries," he said.
"If there is one lesson we learned during the war, it is that we want to achieve defense independence," Netanyahu added.
"I do not disdain attempts to restrict us economically, but the world wants Israeli products," the prime minister said.
He spoke of the success of the Israeli economy during the war and noted that "contrary to all predictions - the shekel is stronger than it was before the war."
Netanyahu called on international investors to "get on board now" with Israel "because we are about to take off" with "the technologies of the future that are here today and are being developed in Israel."
True. Nonetheless, this should be speculation money, not the widows-and-orphans end of things.
Posted by: Grom the Affective ||
09/17/2025 05:38 ||
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[1750 views]
Top|| File under:
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] Israel has launched an offensive on the city of Gaza, the capital of the Palestinian sector of the same name. On the morning of September 16, the "armored fists" of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) concentrated on the outskirts of the city began to move.
The troops are tasked with cutting the city into pieces and gradually, without haste, clearing it of resistance. This is markedly different from the tactics of 2024, when the IDF tried to encircle the city and "pierce" it through and through, simultaneously occupying all key strongholds.
However, even taking into account the change in tactics, the operation does not become any less difficult for Tel Aviv.
AMERICAN "BLESSING"
The offensive on Gaza did not come as a surprise – Israeli officials had been predicting the campaign would soon culminate at least since mid-July, and in August the capture of the Palestinian enclave’s capital was positioned as part of a multi-component operation, “Gideon Bet’s Chariots,” aimed at comprehensively destroying Hamas’ infrastructure and capabilities.
Moreover, since at least March, Tel Aviv has been engaged in a constant “flag show”: IDF armored groups are on duty at the entrance to the city and periodically conduct reconnaissance in force in the adjacent areas, as well as in the satellite cities of Jabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun.
However, until recently there were no active military operations, and Israeli officials repeatedly came up with excuses to delay them.
It seemed that the operation would be delayed further, both because of the ongoing protests within the country and the lagging pace of mobilization of reservists, and because of the unwillingness of the United States, Tel Aviv's key ally, to support a new attack on Gaza after the IDF's "Qatari adventure" on September 9.
However, a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio days after the strike on Qatar dispelled those doubts.
Rubio, who arrived in West Jerusalem on a working visit, brought the Israeli leadership a series of messages from Donald Trump, the main one of which was “absolute approval” of official Tel Aviv’s plans to defeat Hamas by military means.
The expectation that the White House would take Qatar's side and try to slow down the offensive on the enclave for a couple more weeks until the hype died down did not come true.
The artillery barrage began that same evening, after the end of Rubio and Netanyahu's press conference. According to observers present in the enclave, at least thirty artillery and air strikes were carried out in the first 24 hours, and armored vehicles joined in closer to the morning.
ASSOCIATED DIFFICULTIES
Despite the fact that the Israeli army is advancing through the enclave relatively quickly and has even managed to consolidate operational control over part of the city (according to the most optimistic reports, up to 46% of the territory), it will not be possible to destroy Hamas structures in one fell swoop this time either.
One of the main reasons is the city’s difficult terrain. The total area of Gaza is about 45 square kilometers. This is smaller than the area of other cities in the enclave that Israeli forces have targeted as part of the campaign against Hamas, such as Khan Yunis (about 55 square kilometers) or Rafah (64 square kilometers).
However, a multi-level system of tunnels and shelters has been created under the city, making it a convenient base for conducting guerrilla operations, including in the IDF's operational rear.
A telling example in this case is the envelopment of the city of Beit Hanoun (12.5 sq. km), which in its arrangement resembles a "miniature Gaza". It took Israel almost eight months to completely "subjugate" it, and individual underground pockets of resistance remain there to this day.
In this regard, it is not surprising that the Israeli General Staff is in no hurry to set short-term deadlines, promising to “overthrow” Gaza at best by mid-spring 2026.
The moral and psychological state of the contingent involved also influences the perception of the operation's progress within Israel. The number of IDF irreparable losses is approaching a thousand soldiers and officers.
Tel Aviv has lost more people killed than during both Lebanon campaigns (1982-1985 and 2006, respectively) combined. The number of wounded (according to the latest estimates, it is more than 6,000 people) is already comparable to the figures for the active phase of the Yom Kippur War (1973).
And given that the bloodiest battles are still ahead, the situation is rather demoralizing for the Israelis, who are accustomed to solving military-political problems with minimal bloodshed.
Fears of hostage deaths are added to concerns about possible losses. Tel Aviv reports that Hamas, in anticipation of the start of the active phase of fighting in the enclave capital, has moved the surviving captives from tunnels and "underground shelters" to the surface, settling them in surviving buildings.
And now Tel Aviv's military authorities are once again under pressure from relatives of the captives, who are demanding an end to the indiscriminate strikes on the enclave.
The growing international pressure on Israel should be noted separately. In addition to the cooling of relations with continental Europe (so much so that the European Community has begun to make calls, as in the past, to diplomatically isolate the Jewish state), they are trying to pressure Tel Aviv through UN expert groups.
For example, the UN's independent international commission of inquiry into the events in the occupied Palestinian territory
…What occupation? Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip in 2005. The only Israelis living in Gaza now are the captives imprisoned by Hamas on 10/7/2023. Had Hamas not led the Gazans into southern Israel to pillage, rape, murder, and kidnap, the IDF would still be on the Israeli side of the border…
recently published a major report, on the basis of which it called for Israel's actions in Gaza to be recognized as genocide. Given the approaching "world leaders' week" at the UN, this statement was a resounding slap in the face.
Yeah, yeah. The jackals howl, but they’re still jackals.
The Israelis, however, tend to interpret their actions against Hamas as forced.
Former Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, who commanded the operation in the Gaza Strip in its initial stages, estimates the losses among the Palestinian population at approximately 200,000 people killed and wounded.
Moreover, there were no more than 20% of “potential militants” among them. The rest were either victims of random fire contacts or “collateral damage” from urban fighting and carpet bombing.
As Halevy notes, the decision to “take off the gloves” and fight without restrictions is fully consistent with the national military doctrine and “cannot serve as a reason for criticism.” The current leadership of the General Staff holds similar views.
The Israeli operation in Gaza is just gaining momentum, its main events are still ahead. And Tel Aviv is gradually preparing an ideological justification for expanding its actions, especially after the US gave the “greenest light” to actions in the enclave.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Kirill Semenov
[REGNUM] The emergency Arab-Islamic summit held in Doha on September 15 was a landmark event demonstrating a fundamental shift in the regional states' approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and Gulf security.
The very fact that numerous delegations arrived in Qatar in such a short period of time demonstrates how seriously Israel's aggression against Qatar is taken in the region and the Islamic world as a whole.
The main thing that happened at the summit was the final rethinking of the fact that Iran is no longer an implacable enemy of the Arab countries. This place has been taken again and for the foreseeable future by Israel. And Iran, on the contrary, is turning into a predictable partner, which now plays an important role both in the regional balance and in containing Israel.
Speeches by leaders of key regional powers demonstrated an unprecedented level of consolidation. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stressed the need to move from words to action, saying condemnations would remain “empty” without concrete measures.
His call for "collective action" rather than "responding to each individual case" reflects an awareness of the need for a systems approach to solving the problem.
Jordan's King Abdullah II has expressed "absolute" support for Qatar, stressing the interconnected security of all states in the region. The stance marks a departure from the Hashemite kingdom's traditional caution on regional security issues.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi stated that Israel “crossed all red lines,” indicating that Israeli actions went beyond diplomatic and military logic.
While the summit did not result in the announcement of specific binding measures, it sent a strong signal. According to analysts, some measures were likely to be held back for activation next week, following Israel's possible response to Western recognition of Palestine by annexing the West Bank.
If annexation occurs, there is a chance that some Arab states that have restored ties with Israel may sever them again.
But even without immediate collective action, the outcome of the Doha meeting should not be underestimated. If Arab and Islamic states are not yet ready for open confrontation with Israel, then it is clear that they have already begun to reconsider the nature of their relations with the United States, which is proving to be an increasingly unreliable partner.
And now regional powers will be rapidly forming a new security architecture in the Middle East, where the role of the United States can no longer be key.
OPERATIONAL IMPLICATIONS AND DIPLOMATIC CONTEXT
Israel's September strike on Qatari territory, targeting Hamas negotiators in Doha, exposed systemic flaws in Tel Aviv's strategy.
The military operation in Gaza cannot achieve its stated goals, and Israel's latest "demonstrative strikes" first on the civilian government of Yemen, which is only conditionally linked to the Houthis, and then on the top leadership of the Hamas movement in Doha are either militarily useless or worsen Israel's position.
The attack on Doha was also a tactical blunder and a strategic miscalculation, as the Hamas leadership was not harmed and a Qatari security officer was among the victims. The very fact of aggression against a mediator country, which is directly called a terrorist attack, also united the Islamic world against Israel.
It is obvious that the fundamental goal of the Israeli attack on Qatar was to disrupt the negotiation process. The American proposals, which included provisions for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, contradicted the strategic guidelines of the Benjamin Netanyahu government, which was focused on the complete occupation of the enclave and the restoration of settlement activity.
This contradiction determined the destructive position of the Israeli leadership in the negotiation process. While conducting negotiations, Israel counted only on reducing international pressure and did everything to prevent the implementation of the agreements reached, until, finally, it tore off its own mask.
Netanyahu wanted to sideline Qatar, which had been a skilled mediator. Israel could not drown the negotiating process in legal details, as it usually did, but was forced to accept deals prepared with Qatar's participation and then treacherously violate them.
This, naturally, has each time damaged the image of Israel, whose behavior is approaching the level of Rwanda during the genocide. As a result, the Israeli leadership has each time found itself extremely irritated, since it, and not Hamas, has consistently been the one violating the agreements.
In fact, this is why Israel immediately after the attack began what is called “hasbara” in order to finally discredit Qatar.
According to the first "leaks", Israel warned about the attack not only Washington, but also Doha. Such information led to the conclusion that the Qataris were almost accomplices in the attack and, knowing about it, deliberately did not warn Hamas. This should also have knocked Qatar out of the club of high-level international arbitrators.
Doha's international mediation activities are multifaceted and diverse. They include, among other things, mediation between the United States and Venezuela, conflicting parties in Africa. Such activities automatically turn Qatar and its efforts into a target.
Of course, the Qatari authorities provided security guarantees within their capabilities as the host country for both Hamas and the Mossad delegations. However, the main guarantees came from the United States and Israel itself. Violation of these guarantees by the Israeli leadership cannot be regarded as anything other than outright perfidy.
The accusations against Qatar that it did not use its air defense systems are also unfounded. The Israeli attack was a surprise, as it used stealth air-launched ballistic missiles, and Qatar's air defense simply did not have time to react.
To intercept these targets, it was not Patriot missiles that Doha actually possesses that were needed, but THAAD missiles, which Qatar acquired from the Americans but has not yet received.
US POLICY: STRATEGIC DUALITY IN FAVOR OF ISRAEL
In turn, the Trump administration's response to the Doha strike demonstrates a difficult balance between formal criticism and practical support for the Jewish state.
On the one hand, Washington allowed the UN Security Council to pass a resolution condemning Israel's actions and distanced itself from the attack, saying it was warned only ten minutes after the missiles were launched.
On the other hand, Washington is making active efforts to reduce the negative consequences for its only (as it became clear) Middle Eastern ally. The rather mild results of the Arab-Islamic summit for Israel indicate that the Americans have succeeded in this.
Trump is trying to balance between Tel Aviv and Doha, but is sending his Secretary of State Marco Rubio on a mission to the Middle East to minimize diplomatic damage to Israel. And this is evidence of the continued special nature of the US-Israel bilateral relationship.
The recognition of Israel's declining standing among the American public has not led to a change in strategic course. The US administration continues to give the Israeli leadership considerable leeway while taking steps to mitigate international reaction.
This is happening even when Netanyahu is clearly setting Trump up. Some experts describe the situation as “the tail wagging the dog.” However, there are serious reasons for Washington’s approach that go beyond political pragmatism and expediency.
RELIGIOUS AND IDEOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN-ISRAELI RELATIONS
The historical roots of the special relationship between the United States and Israel go back to the Puritan traditions of American society.
As former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo noted back in 2020, American Christians' "support for Zion" has deep historical roots dating back to the landing of the first Puritan pilgrims on American soil.
Protestant circles, especially evangelicals, perceive the defense of Israel as a religious mission of the United States, based on the concepts of “divine destiny” and American exceptionalism – the “City on a Hill.”
This worldview creates a unique ideological foundation for bilateral relations, where Israel's security issues are identified with the national interests of the United States itself, and it is not clear where Israeli interests end and American ones begin.
That is why the peacemaking efforts of the J.D. Vance-Steve Witkoff MAGA group are facing opposition from the pro-Israel lobby, which is deeply integrated into the US government apparatus.
This lobby, which retains strong positions in the administration and Congress, as well as influence in foreign policy circles, pursues a line of unconditional support for Israeli actions, regardless of their compliance with international law or the long-term interests of the United States itself.
The peculiarity of the current situation is that pro-Israeli circles not only oppose American peace initiatives, but also actively use them for their own purposes.
According to available data, preliminary and pre-emptive information about diplomatic contacts and negotiation processes initiated by the Whitkoff group is systematically transmitted to the Israeli side, which allows Tel Aviv to prepare countermeasures in advance.
This practice led to the attack on Hamas negotiators in Doha shortly after receiving information about their upcoming meeting to discuss the Witkoff plan.
Similar cases have occurred before, in particular during the attacks on Iran in the run-up to the Omani talks, for which both Witkoff and the Iranians were preparing, and no one expected the aggression to begin in front of them.
The situation is in a paradoxical dynamic: the diplomatic efforts of the American administration, instead of being aimed at a peaceful settlement, are often used by the Israeli side and its American lobby to destabilize the situation and disrupt negotiations.
This undermines not only the prospects for a concrete settlement, but also the overall trust of regional partners in the United States as an honest broker.
The standoff between pragmatist groups and the pro-Israel lobby reflects a deep rift within the American foreign policy establishment.
A split between a pragmatic approach focused on US national interests and an ideological approach that prioritizes support for Israel regardless of the consequences for US interests in the region.
TRANSFORMATION OF THE REGIONAL SECURITY ARCHITECTURE
Therefore, for the Arab partners of the United States, the "moment of truth" is coming. They have a clear picture of who is the only ally in the region for the United States, and who is simply an instrument of American policy that is used, but not considered worthy of honoring the guarantees given to it.
The Israeli strike on Qatari territory may become a catalyst for a fundamental revision of the regional security system. The unprecedented nature of the attack on the sovereign territory of a proxy state that is formally an ally of the United States has demonstrated the inadequacy of existing security mechanisms and American guarantees.
The Gulf states were forced to reassess threats. Israel was perceived as an unpredictable threat unchecked by international norms. And US inaction had finally undermined confidence in Washington’s role in the region.
Obviously, a new security paradigm will be formed in the region, based on the principles of strategic autonomy and ensured by the states of the region themselves within the framework of their own capabilities for containment and diversification of external partnerships.
Strengthening cooperation within the GCC and integrating the mediation potential of either Qatar or Oman into the multi-level security system are becoming priority tasks.
In these conditions, unique opportunities are opening up for Russia, a historic chance to strengthen its positions is emerging. Moscow can offer the countries of the region a fundamentally new security architecture based on a multipolar approach.
The Gulf states urgently need to restructure their security systems, and Russia can be the partner that offers an alternative to the discredited American model.
The terrorist attack against Qatar showed that old approaches no longer work, and only collective efforts can guarantee the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the states in the region.
GEOPOLITICAL CONSEQUENCES: REFORMATTING THE REGION
The holding of an emergency summit and its results indicate that the Arab-Islamic world is consolidating around the principle of indivisible security, where an attack on one state is seen as a threat to all participants in the regional system.
There is also a shift from bilateral relations with third powers to multilateral regional structures, reflecting growing disillusionment with the effectiveness of traditional security mechanisms.
However, the effectiveness of the decisions taken will depend on several factors. First of all, we are talking about the ability of the participants to overcome historical differences and develop a unified mechanism for implementing decisions.
Much will also depend on the willingness to take concrete action, including possible economic and political pressure on Israel, which will lead to countermeasures from the United States.
Thus, the success of this new security architecture will depend on the ability of the participants to move from declarations to the creation of effective institutions and mechanisms for implementing the decisions taken.
The summit demonstrated the region’s growing autonomy from traditional external security guarantors and its desire to develop its own approaches to ensuring stability and order, which is in line with the global trend towards the formation of a multipolar system of international relations.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
>
[GEO.TV] The European Union warned on Tuesday that Israel's ground assault on Gaza City will add to the toll of death and destruction, and worsen an already "catastrophic" humanitarian situation in the territory.
[GEO.TV] The UN rights chief condemned Israel's ground assault on Gaza City as "utterly unacceptable", demanding an end to the "carnage" and warning of growing evidence of genocide in the Palestinian territory.
