[DM] A Minnesota sheriff is facing fierce backlash after delivering a rant linking deadly Fourth of July weekend gun violence to Somali youth gangs.
Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher ignited a political firestorm on Monday after declaring during a 'Live on Patrol' stream, that officials could no longer stay silent about what he described as 'a growing gang problem in the Twin Cities.'
The explosive comments were launched on the 20-minute livestream after a holiday weekend marred by violence that investigators say were connected to rival Somali gangs.
Standing alongside gang investigators and RCSO Somali gang investigator Jama Shine, Fletcher insisted it was time for an honest conversation.
'We can’t ignore it anymore,' the sheriff urged, as authorities warned the violence was putting entire neighborhoods at risk.
Fletcher played a video from a double shooting on Saturday near the Quarry Shopping Center in northeast Minneapolis during the stream.
'We’ve got a huge list of criminal activity, but having said that, we’re not indicting the whole community,' Sheriff Fletcher said while sitting in his office addressing viewers.
'Before you start fixing the problem, first you have to identify what it is,' he later added in his speech, which has now accumulated tens of thousands of views.
Another investigator addressing this issue, Ben Seidl, said he’s tracking at least a dozen Somali gangs in the Twin Cities and metro area, operating with roughly 300 members.
Investigators say these gangs are unlike traditional criminal organizations built around drugs or organized crime. Instead, many are made up of teenagers and young adults whose personal disputes rapidly spiral into shootings.
Authorities also warned that some suspects have been caught carrying illegally modified firearms capable of automatic fire, dramatically increasing the risk to innocent bystanders.
#1
This is generally par for the course for Fletcher, who is not afraid to speak his mind. If you want to know more, watch his live YouTube show "Live on Patrol" Fridays @9:11 PM Central time.
Despite all the screeching, marching, and harassing, not to mention the bots and boiler room posts on social media.
[IsraelTimes] After decades of reliable bipartisan backing for Israel, a new AP-NORC poll reveals a dramatic erosion of support for the longtime US ally, with rising opposition from Democrats and signs of division among Republicans.
The survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research arrives at a moment when a once-consensus foreign policy issue is increasingly polarizing Americans along partisan and generational lines, driven by criticism for Israel’s conduct nearly three years after the outbreak of its latest war with Hamas in Gaza, sparked by the terror group’s October 7, 2023, onslaught.
About one-third of US adults — including roughly half of Democrats — believe that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians during the war in Gaza, an accusation that’s been leveled by some human rights organizations and vehemently denied by Israel and the US government.
About 2 in 10 Americans say Israel has not and the rest, about half, don’t know enough to say.
A similar share, 30 percent, of Jewish adults say Israel has committed genocide, although about half, 49%, say it has not.
About three-quarters of Jewish adults say Israel’s initial response after October 7 was justified, but only about 4 in 10 believe that about its ongoing, but reduced, operations.
About 58% of Democrats now say the US is “too supportive” of the Israelis, up from 45% in an AP-NORC poll from January 2024 when former US president Joe Biden was in office. That includes 51% of Jewish Democrats in the new poll.
Roughly 6 in 10 Democrats, 62%, say the US is “not supportive enough” of the Palestinians, up from 49% in 2024. Younger Democrats — those 45 and younger — are still more likely than older ones to say that the United States is “not supportive enough” of the Palestinians, but older Democrats are catching up to their younger counterparts. About 57% of older Democrats now say the US should do more for the Palestinians, up from 39% two years ago.
Just a sliver of Republicans, 13%, describe Israel’s actions as genocide, although there is an apparent age gap. About 2 in 10 Republicans under 45 say Israel has committed genocide, while about 1 in 10 Republicans ages 45 and older say the same.
Overall, 60% of Republicans describe the US support for Israel as “about right.” Only about 2 in 10 Republicans say that the United States is “too supportive” of the Israelis, although Republicans under 45 are more likely to say this.
The share of Republicans overall who say the US is “too supportive” of Israel has not changed meaningfully since 2024, but the share who say the US is “not supportive enough” has shrunk from 39% to 15%.
Anti-Israel radicals are ascendant in the Democratic Party, but Republican primary voters remain deeply supportive of the Jewish state, a Washington Free Beacon poll found.
The survey, conducted in early June, found that likely Republican primary voters prefer a candidate who supports a strong U.S.-Israel relationship by a margin of 57 percentage points and who explicitly denounces antisemitism by a margin of 52 percentage points. By the same token, survey respondents also said they were less likely to support a candidate who describes Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a war criminal, who takes steps to economically isolate Israel, and who votes against congressional resolutions denouncing antisemitism—by margins of 25 points, 43 points, and 43 points respectively.
#8
If Israel was committing genocide in Gaza... they would be the most incompetent genocidal people in all of history then. You don't feed those you are trying to kill off.
1/2Niger : Azawad-Mali, la neutralité comme impératif politique
À défaut de pouvoir jouer un rôle de médiateur, la sagesse commande au Niger de se tenir résolument à l'écart du conflit qui oppose Bamako à l'Azawad. Ce n'est pas seulement une option diplomatique parmi d'autres :…
Niger: Azawad-Mali, Neutrality as a Political Imperative
Failing the ability to play a mediator role, wisdom dictates that Niger resolutely stay out of the conflict pitting Bamako against Azawad. This is not merely one diplomatic option among others: it is a crucial condition for Niger's own internal cohesion.
A CONFLICT OLDER THAN THE MALIAN STATE ITSELF
The conflict now engulfing northern Mali is anything but a conjunctural crisis. Its roots trace back to the first Tuareg rebellion of 1916-1917, deepened during the uprisings of 1962-1964 and 1990-1996, and resurfaced with the proclamation of Azawad's independence in 2012. Each cycle has followed the same pattern: a central state responding to a political demand with force, a peace agreement signed under duress, like the 2015 Algiers Accords, then an agreement that stalls due to lack of real implementation. The coordinated offensive of April 25, 2026, launched jointly by the Azawad Liberation Front and JNIM against Bamako, Kati, Kidal, Gao, Sévaré, and Mopti, is thus not an isolated event: it is the reemergence, in a more violent form, of an unresolved issue—the political status of northern populations and their place in Mali's state architecture. To imagine that Niger could meddle in such a dispute without suffering the backlash borders on blindness. What Bamako fights under the label of terrorism is also, at its core, a matter of political and territorial recognition. A question Niger knows intimately, having faced it in its own rebellions.
A CROSS-BORDER COMMUNITY, A DIRECT RISK OF CONTAGION
This is where the danger becomes concrete. The communities under attack in Azawad are not confined to Mali's borders: They are spread across Mali, Niger, Algeria, Burkina Faso, and Libya. A war waged against Azawad is therefore never strictly a Malian war: it crosses colonial-era borders and directly strikes at the heart of Niger's communal balance. Joining Bamako militarily would mean, for Niamey, importing the fault lines of a conflict that is not its own, and turning alliance solidarity into a factor of internal destabilization.
Yet it is precisely this line that Niger has begun to cross. After the April 25 attacks, the joint force of the Alliance of Sahel States, of which Niger is a major pillar, reportedly conducted airstrikes in Malian territory against FLA positions. The spokesperson for the Azawad Liberation Front immediately called on Niger and Burkina Faso to stay out of Malian affairs. This call should not be dismissed as mere rhetorical posturing: it signals that the population itself sees Niger's involvement as a red line, and that every airstrike against Azawad brings Niger a little closer to the risk it claims to avoid.
THE MIRAGE OF AN AES POLICY "WITHOUT ETHNICITY"
No one is fooled by the sovereigntist rhetoric claiming that an AES policy could exist outside of any communal considerations. Beneath the veneer of counterterrorism lies a much older logic: that of preserving power balances inherited from French colonization, where the groups that seized the state apparatus at independence continue to define its terms of security and legitimacy on their own. Treating the FLA—a political Azawad movement with longstanding political demands—and JNIM, a transnational jihadist coalition affiliated with Al-Qaeda, as a single bloc serves this confusion: it allows a demand for political recognition to be recast as terrorism, and justifies with arms what called for negotiation.
[SWI] For centuries, civilians have been part of hostilities during wars. For example, during the Second World War, British volunteers phoned in early warning of air raids.
Today, these actors are primarily hackers. Civilian hackers have increasingly been or are active in armed conflicts in Ukraine, Syria, Armenia and Azerbaijan, India and Pakistan, as well as between Israel and Iran and between Israel and Hamas. In a modern battlefield, anyone with a smartphone is a potential source of military information that can collect and send data in seconds.
With strategies that aim to mobilise “the whole of society” to defend a country, civilian involvement in warfare could become increasingly direct and far-reaching, warn the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights in a joint report.
This raises many questions and creates its own set of problems. Not only are civilians exposing themselves to danger, but their involvement in conflicts raises the question of whether they classify as combatants or non-combatants under international humanitarian law – and benefit from protection.
The more civilians actively participate in hostilities, the more the line between civilians and combatants becomes blurred, says the ICRC.
“In several of today’s armed conflicts, the ICRC has documented cases in which civilians were shot or detained because they were suspected of using their mobile phones to spy for parties to the conflict,” Tilmann Rodenhäuser, a legal adviser at the ICRC and co-author of the report, told Swissinfo.
One example where civilian hackers are most active is in Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia in February 2022. The war in Ukraine has transformed civilian participation. They’ve shifted from being isolated informants to networked, real-time intelligence contributors. In March 2022, Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation introduced the chatbot eVorog (“e-Enemy”), allowing civilians to report troop movements, the location of unexploded ordnance, or the transport of materiel by Russian forces.
Some groups of civilian hacktivists use distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) operations to weaken their opponents. In such attacks, perpetrators attempt to overwhelm a website with traffic to prevent its normal operation. A well-known example is the civilian group IT Army of Ukraine, which was created and encouraged by the Ukrainian government to attack Russian targets. According to its own statements, the IT Army aims to help Ukraine win by “paralysing the aggressor’s economy and blocking key financial, infrastructure, and government services.”
[SWI] A joint investigation by European public service broadcasters has uncovered systematic manipulation of news comment sections on Instagram and Facebook – spanning bot-driven hate speech, political campaigns, and commercial spam. Across at least 17.5 million comments left in the 12 months between April 2025 and March 2026 on accounts run by BR24, France 24, LRT, ORF, RTVE, Swissinfo, RFI, Tagesschau and ZDFheute, one topic generated more coordinated inauthentic activity than any other: Iran.
As protests against the Islamic Republic of Iran intensified from January 2026, the comment sections of European public broadcasters reflected the country’s political wrangling – with at least three distinct coordinated networks operating simultaneously on the same platforms, and sometimes beneath the same posts.
The largest single coordinated community identified across the entire dataset supported the Iranian opposition and its figurehead Reza Pahlavi, an exiled opposition figure and eldest son of the former Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. It generated tens of thousands of comments across the channels analysed, making it by far the highest-volume coordinated presence in the investigation. Accounts in this network posted using shared hashtags – #KingRezaPahlavi, #FreeIran, #IranRevolution2026, #DigitalBlackoutIran – and in many cases used near-identical template text, likely distributed through messaging app channels.
It would appear as if we get some of the same here, targeting Israel et. al.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
07/09/2026 06:21 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2308 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies
#3
his report nails it on Iran, and the exact same playbook is being run at industrial scale against Israel and Jews worldwide. Coordinated networks — bot farms, templated spam accounts, and synchronized troll operations — are flooding the comment sections of every major news outlet the moment Israel appears. Same tactics: shared hashtags, near-identical copy-paste text, rapid deployment under the same posts, all pushing the same delegitimization script.While the largest detected network in the European broadcasters’ data supported Reza Pahlavi and the Iranian opposition (which is legitimate pushback against the mullahs), the anti-Israel side is even more aggressive, hateful, and state-adjacent. Much of it aligns with the Islamic Republic’s “axis of resistance” narrative — the same regime that arms Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis to murder Jews and Israelis. These campaigns don’t seek debate; they seek to drown out facts, spread blood libels, deny Jewish history and indigeneity, and normalize “from the river to the sea” eliminationism.This is information warfare, not organic opinion. It distorts public perception, aids actual terrorists, and creates the illusion of overwhelming global hostility to Israel when much of it is manufactured. European public broadcasters’ platforms are being exploited as battlegrounds in this war. Genuine discussion gets buried under waves of inauthentic hate while real antisemitism surges.Platforms and media outlets need to treat coordinated inauthentic behavior as the national-security and public-safety issue it is — especially when it targets the world’s only Jewish state fighting for its survival against genocidal enemies. Israel’s right to exist and defend itself is not up for algorithmic manipulation or bot-driven “consensus.” The Jewish people have seen this movie before. We know how it ends if left unchecked.
…Umbrella organisations. Educational institutions. Not mosques. Political structures.
The document is precise about the method:
“Islamization from below.” Train individuals ideologically. Insert them into civic life. Let them work their way into the institutions that shape how a society thinks and governs itself.
Austria’s parliament has simultaneously submitted a formal question asking whether intelligence chiefs were ordered by ministers to suppress surveillance results on political Islam.
Read that again. MPs are asking whether the government was told to look away.
Austria is further ahead than any other European country in naming this. It has banned Brotherhood symbols, closed radical mosques, expelled imams and now published a comprehensive counter-strategy naming specific institutional targets.
The EU designation question has been sitting unanswered since January.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/09/2026 2026-07-09 01:30 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2183 views]
Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood
[KhaamaPress] The death of a former Afghan commando in U.S. immigration custody has been ruled an accident, according to an official death certificate that attributed his death to a severe allergic reaction and an acute asthma attack, while his family and supporters continue to question the circumstances surrounding the case.
Mohammad Nazir Paktiawal, 41, who served alongside U.S. Special Forces in Afghanistan, died on March 14, a day after officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested him at his Texas home during deportation proceedings.
According to the death certificate, reviewed by The News Agency that Dare Not be Named, the primary cause of death was anaphylactic shock with acute exacerbation of asthma. The medical examiner also listed methamphetamine toxicity, underlying cardiovascular disease and cigarette smoking as contributing factors. George Floyd Syndrome™
Paktiawal had fought alongside U.S. forces for nearly a decade before being evacuated to the United States after the Taliban ...Arabic for students... returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021. He entered the country legally under the U.S. evacuation programme, but his asylum application had not been approved when he was detained by immigration authorities.
The findings have failed to ease concerns among his family, legal representatives and veterans’ advocacy groups, who continue to seek greater transparency over the circumstances of his death.
On Monday, AfghanEvac President Shawn VanDiver and two members of the U.S. Congress called on Texas authorities to release the full autopsy report, which remains confidential because officials say a criminal investigation is ongoing.
VanDiver questioned what substance triggered the fatal allergic reaction, how it entered Paktiawal’s body and why the death certificate listed the date of injury as one day before his arrest by ICE.
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal also urged the Department of Homeland Security to make the autopsy findings public, saying Paktiawal’s family deserved a full explanation of how he died while in federal custody.
ICE has defended its handling of the case, saying Paktiawal had previously been arrested on allegations of food assistance fraud and theft, although he was not convicted in either case. The agency also said he reported no medical conditions or drug allergies during intake at the detention facility.
According to ICE, Paktiawal later developed breathing difficulties and chest pain and was transferred to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. Hospital staff discovered severe swelling of his tongue the following morning while he was eating breakfast. Despite receiving emergency treatment, including epinephrine, he died about 40 minutes later.
Paktiawal’s family disputes the finding that methamphetamine contributed to his death. His lawyer said an independent autopsy could neither confirm nor rule out the conclusion because no blood sample was available for further toxicological testing. His wife has also said she tried to provide immigration officers with his asthma inhaler during his arrest, but they declined to accept it.
Paktiawal’s death has renewed scrutiny of medical care and oversight in U.S. immigration detention facilities, particularly for Afghan nationals evacuated after the collapse of the Western-backed Afghanistan government in 2021.
[IsraelTimes] A lawsuit filed today alleges that the Trump administration’s immigration agencies have been sharing confidential information about Iranian asylum seekers with the Iranian government, violating national immigration regulations and endangering countless Iranians, court filings argue.
The lawsuit depicts a coordinated campaign between the US and Iranian governments to identify Iranians in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and pressure them to return to Iran — a marked departure from decades of diplomatic hostility between the two governments and an ongoing war.
Roughly 600 Iranians were put in immigration detention last year, according to public records obtained by the National Iranian American Council. In June, an Iranian woman was among the two dozen migrants the US deported to the Central African Republic — in a stark departure from a decades-long practice by the US of welcoming Iranian dissidents, exiles and others since the 1979 Islamic Revolution forced a large number of Iranians to flee.
The US government is allowed to work with government officials of foreign countries to coordinate deportation logistics. However, federal regulations passed in the late 1990s prohibit the government from sharing information that could reveal that the individual getting deported applied for asylum.
Starting in March 2025, the US State Department arranged monthly meetings with Iranian officials, using the Pakistani embassy as an intermediary, in which US officials shared detailed, sensitive information about detained Iranian immigrants who the US government hoped to deport, lawyers for the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund and the Public Citizen Litigation Group write in a complaint.
The information included details about asylum applications filed by people who say they were persecuted for converting to Christianity, for their sexuality or for participating in the Women, Life, Freedom protests against the Iranian government in 2022, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in US District Court in Washington, DC.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
07/09/2026 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2292 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Fire some people please.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/09/2026 11:37 Comments ||
Top||
[IsraelTimes] Rubio informs Congress of Trump’s ‘historic’ decision, triggering 45-day review; at Turkey NATO summit, Trump says Syrian leader ‘doing an unbelievable job’ at unifying country
US President Donald Trump ...The Hero of Butler, Pennsylvania... on Wednesday informed his Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa that he had decided to remove the country from the US list of designated state sponsors of terrorism.
"I promised to remove all barriers stopping you from rebuilding your country, and very soon, you will finally be able to do so," Trump wrote in a letter to Sharaa that a senior US administration official said was handed to the Syrian leader after their meeting on the sidelines of a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... summit in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... "We have US companies ready to invest in Syria and help make your country greater and more prosperous than ever before," Trump added in the letter.
Meeting Sharaa in Ankara, Trump complimented the Syrian leader, who was a commander of al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front in Syria before cutting ties with the group in 2016. He then led a coalition of Islamist rebel factions in late 2024 to topple Assad.
"He’s respected by everybody, including me," Trump said. "He’s doing an unbelievable job in unifying Syria. What a job he’s doing."
"Syria was a mess with what happened with the previous government," Trump added.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio ...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration... formally informed Congress of the long-expected move, which will be effective in 45 days unless politicians take the unlikely step of blocking it.
"This is yet another historic step by President Trump to give the Syrian people a chance at greatness," Rubio said in a statement.
"Lifting sanctions on Syria will unlock international trade and investment, give Syria a chance to rebuild, and open up a new chapter for the Syrian people," he said.
Trump’s embrace of Sharaa, a former jihadist who has sought to recast himself as a unifying figure, comes despite misgivings from Israel.
Trump had previously publicly pressed for Syria to make peace with Israel but went ahead with the delisting decision despite a lack of tangible progress.
Rubio said in his statement that "a stable, unified Syria at peace with itself and its neighbors benefits not only the region, but the entire world."
A year ago, Trump started lifting most sanctions on Syria after Turkey and Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... both encouraged him to meet Sharaa.
The United States listed Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism in 1979. The designation creates legal risks to working in Syria for businesses, especially American ones or those with transactions in the world’s largest economy.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited by Olesya Orlenko
[REGNUM.RU] From July 6 to 7, French President Emmanuel Macron visited Damascus. During their meeting, the French and Syrian leaders spoke loudly of the dawning era of prosperity, strong friendship, and the restoration of justice.
The press, which has already dubbed the trip "historic," is also expressing opinions that its true motive lies in the French desire to secure an advantage at any cost. What, then, can be said about France's intentions regarding Syria?
The previous visit of this level took place in 2009, when Nicolas Sarkozy was President of France and hosted by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Since then, relations between the two countries have undergone changes.
This is largely due to the close cooperation between Syria and Russia in the fight against terrorists. France called the Syrian government's actions "opposition suppression." The French press described the bombing of ISIS-held areas as acts against civilians.
France launched legal proceedings against Assad, even issuing an arrest warrant in 2025 (though it was later revoked). The grounds for this varied, ranging from lawsuits for French journalists killed—among others—as a result of military action, which formed the basis for accusations of crimes against humanity, to accusations of the alleged use of chemical weapons.
Syria's current president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who overthrew the Assad regime, was enthusiastically received by Western politicians. They saw him as a guarantor of the elimination of Russian influence in the region, and an opportunity to advance their interests. In the first months after al-Sharaa's rise to power, the European Union lifted most sanctions on Syria and signed a cooperation agreement on May 11, 2025.
Since al-Sharaa's initial successes, France has tried to keep its finger on the pulse. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot was one of the first official European diplomats to arrive in Damascus in January 2025 to meet with the new Syrian authorities.
France also became the first European country that al-Sharaa visited as head of Syria, after which both presidents announced the creation of a roadmap for cooperation.
Macron's July visit to Syria is being positioned as a continuation of this cooperation. The press noted a significant number of heads of major French corporations accompanying the president: the CEOs of oil giant TotalEnergies, investment company CMA CGM, Airbus, security group Thales, Air France-KLM, and others.
While in Damascus on July 7, Macron announced France's large-scale involvement in rebuilding Syria from the devastation wrought by war. The task is no easy one. International estimates put the cost of rebuilding at €200 billion.
The visit resulted in the signing of a number of state-level agreements in various fields. Numerous contracts were also concluded in construction, agriculture, maritime and air transport, tourism, and energy.
The French side presents these investments as supporting the process of "establishing peace, security, and prosperity." Even the dates of the French president's visit were not chosen by chance. The first session of the new Syrian parliament, to which Macron intended to offer moral support, was scheduled for July 6. Paradoxically, the Syrian authorities postponed the parliamentary session, citing... Macron's visit.
Another ironic aspect of the French president's visit. While in Damascus, Macron wrote on social media: "This morning I saw Syria in all its diversity. I saw dignity, courage, and determination." That very morning, July 7, two powerful explosions rocked the immediate vicinity of the hotel where the French president was staying, injuring several dozen people.
At the same time, it's hard not to note that among the new government and al-Shara'a's associates are individuals who are still under international sanctions due to their past. And the Syrian government's policy toward national minorities still raises questions.
Meanwhile, French media outlets are struggling to place blame for the crimes against the Alawites on the victims themselves. However, there are also voices suggesting that the government is imposing a strict religious regime in the country, destroying the personal and civil liberties that existed even under Assad.
Macron and other members of the French delegation, however, clearly didn't want to go into detail. After all, too much depends on relations with Syria. And it's not just about investment projects, although it's undoubtedly easier and cheaper for French businesses to conduct them outside their own country. And the search for new platforms for operations is more urgent than ever given Paris's loss of the African market.
There are a number of other aspects. First, Syria is taking on particular significance in the context of the US and Israel's war with Iran, or more specifically, against the backdrop of the energy collapse associated with the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. From this perspective, the Syrian port of Baniyas, which can receive oil from Iraq and the UAE, is of strategic importance.
The Syrian authorities are trying to convince the international community of their ability to ensure transit, and the media is discussing the risks and prospects that such an opportunity opens.
The second issue concerns strategic and political influence in the region. During their visit to Damascus, the French President and Foreign Ministry raised the issue of Lebanon's security, whose interests France traditionally protects.
Concerns have been raised by US President Donald Trump's proposal to task Syria with combating Hezbollah supporters in Lebanon. Since the Lebanese-Syrian border has not yet been officially delineated, France plans to act as a guarantor in this area. It's no coincidence that Macron cited security as one of the key aspects of cooperation with Syria.
Could all these considerations outweigh Macron's declared ethical concerns about "defending democratic values"? They certainly could. After all, France has calmly cooperated in this region even with recognized terrorists.
[TT] When more than 10 million people flooded the streets of Tehran on Monday,
…was it really that many?
shoulder to shoulder, black-clad, chests beating in unison, it was not grief they were carrying. It was a declaration. A message carved into the very soul of this ancient land, sent straight to the White House and every capital that still believes Iran can be broken.
Let me describe what the world saw: Damavand Avenue swallowed by a human river stretching as far as the eye could see. The hearse carrying the coffin of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, martyred on the first day of the US-Israeli strikes, was moving slowly through Enqelab Square toward Azadi Square, a 12-kilometer journey that took hours because the people would not let him go. They carried portraits of their fallen Leader. They carried banners demanding the deaths of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. They chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" until their voices cracked.
Official delegations from more than 100 countries traveled to Tehran. Russia sent Dmitry Medvedev. China, Pakistan, India, Turkey, they all came. They understood what the Americans refuse to understand: that this was not a funeral. This was a geopolitical earthquake.
The numbers that should terrify Washington
Iranian authorities say 12 to 20 million people were expected to attend across the country. In Tehran alone, more than 10 million mourners packed the streets. The Iranian media called it the "funeral of the century". Foreign journalists who came expecting to document a regime in crisis instead watched a nation in resurrection.
Norwegian political scientist Glenn Diesen called it what it was: a "major miscalculation by the United States and its allies regarding public support for Iran's government".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/09/2026 6:54 Comments ||
Top||
#5
So roughly 10% of the population of the country. Can you think of the last time 10% of Americans actually physically got up and went to the streets for any event? Not watching on their phone, TV, etc? The folks over there remain p*ssed about the decapitation strike made in February (4 1/2 months ago). If the US is going to win this war, in the classical sense, the attitude of the people of Iran needs to do a 180. And the American people need to commit as well - get off the couch.
#6
And the American people need to commit as well - get off the couch.
People of America, rise up! It is time to hang your decorations for Bridges and Power Plants Day. (acually, it is a week-long celebration)
Now, who want's a margarita?
So the Mad Mullah spokesman claims. But how many came for the free food and drink, taking advantage of the free transportation? How many came because they were ordered to? In a totalitarian society, genuine enthusiasm is hard to find — and very dangerous when pointed in an unapproved direction.
#11
Let us remember that 50+% of Iranian population are not Iranian. And that these minorities distributed among enclaves that border sovereign countries wherein said minority is a majority.
#12
The Genghis Khan little voice in me said we should have given them the nuke in celebration they so desperately wanted. However, we're too civilized for that. Just left with dealing with all the consequence of not doing that.
#13
Were they voluntary or compelled? Don't care. Strafe them all. So I can listen to the carrion men groaning for burial.
Posted by: Regular joe ||
07/09/2026 11:46 Comments ||
Top||
#14
First survival lesson: Learn to clap your hands in a way they don't hurt sooner than those of others.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
07/09/2026 13:08 Comments ||
Top||
#15
Okay - checked the record book and the largest US crowd for a single event was on the first Earth Day in 1970 with an estimated attendance of 20 million. So that beats the Iranian funeral draw.
Second place was the Chicago Cubs victory parade in 2016 that apparently drew 5 million people.
#16
Posts on X from some of the Iranian posters with sources in Iran commented that the number was closer to 5 million and many of those were imported from other countries.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
[REGNUM.RU] Russia and the Alliance of Sahel States (ASS) have pointed to criminal collusion between France and Ukraine and terrorists in the region. This was reported in a joint statement issued on July 8 by the Russian Foreign Ministry and the ASS following consultations in Niamey.
"The parties acknowledged the involvement of external state actors in coordinated barbaric aggression, as well as economic and media terrorism in the ACS space," the statement, cited by the Russian Foreign Ministry press service, noted.
Specifically, it points to criminal collusion between Ukraine, France, and several other countries with terrorist groups operating in the Sahel. The parties also condemned "treacherous and vile terrorist acts" aimed at undermining stability in the ACS area.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Niger for the first time. A government plane landed on July 8 at the airport in the capital, Niamey, from where Lavrov traveled to a ministerial meeting between Russia and the Alliance of Sahel States (ASS).
Regional security and the fight against terrorism will be the central topic of discussion. The ACS countries have repeatedly stated that militants attacking the Sahel receive external support, including from Ukraine and the West. Moscow also noted that Kyiv cooperates with terrorist groups and uses them to destabilize African regimes.
On July 7, Lavrov visited Ethiopia, the first stop on his African tour. There, he held talks with Foreign Minister Gideon Timotheos and the country's leadership. The meetings focused on the construction of a nuclear power plant, cooperation in mineral exploration and production, metallurgy, and increasing trade. Lavrov previously made an official visit to Ethiopia in July 2022 as part of his African tour.
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.
...Arabic for 
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
