[Just The News] Afghan special forces units trained by the CIA mowed down civilians with their cars and shot innocent people to clear the Kabul airport during the Biden administration’s chaotic U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, according to first-person accounts in a new documentary.
Eyewitnesses in the documentary for The Wall Street Journal, titled "The Path to Zero," say atrocities were also perpetrated against U.S. military members at Kabul International Airport — in the closing hours of the administration's final withdrawal of U.S. forces.
Multiple people say in the documentary that they witnessed the Afghan special forces, known as Zero Units, murder members of the crowd in a CIA-directed mission to clear the airport. Those who committed the murders were then rewarded with evacuation, courtesy of the U.S.
"They straight up executed people, ran them over," retired U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Edward Gonzalez says in the film, telling the documentarians that he witnessed these atrocities firsthand. "I literally saw trucks running over people," he said when told that some people have denied that such events occurred.
Josephy Laude, a retired sergeant with the U.S. Marine Corp, also described what the Zero Units did to clear out the airport.
"They would use vehicles, they would run people over, they would execute people," Laude says in the film. "They’d shoot them, shoot into the crowds bearing witness to atrocities, to war crimes."
Peter Vasely, a retired rear admiral with the U.S. Navy who served as the commander of U.S. Forces Afghanistan Forward at the time of the withdrawal, claimed in the documentary that "no reports" of the Zero Unit’s actions ever made it to him. He said he did not doubt what the Marines on the ground said, just that he never received any official reports of the conduct.
#3
We used to have pro-bin Laden propaganda and the Mujahadeen appeared with Reagan in the White House.
or Operation Timber Sycamore where we funded ISIS in Syria to fight Assad.
#4
Ace is reporting the guy who ambushed the 2 National Guardsmen in DC were of this unit.
I am also reminded of the guy who thought he owned all the streets in DC and after being pulled over and started shooting at the officers, wounding 2, a Jamal Wali.
[ToloNews] Five years have passed since the deadly ISIS attack on the outskirts of Kabul airport
…on Aug. 26, 2021, at the Abbey Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport during the US-led evacuation from Afghanistan. The attack was carried out by an ISIS-K suicide bomber…
—an attack that, in the final days of the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, killed at least 170 Afghan citizens and 13 US service members and maimed dozens of others.
The US Department of State has offered rewards totaling up to $18 million for information about two leaders of ISIS-Khorasan.
The US State Department’s Rewards for Justice program said it is offering a reward of up to $8 million for information leading to the identification or capture of Sanaullah Ghafari, also known as Shahab al-Muhajir, the leader of ISIS-Khorasan, and up to $10 million for information about Obaidullah, another ISIS-Khorasan leader.
According to the department, Ghafari is responsible for approving ISIS-Khorasan operations and securing financial resources for the group’s activities, while Obaidullah manages the group’s financial activities.
Sadiq Shinwari, a military affairs analyst, said: "Offering rewards for ISIS leaders can be very effective in identifying them and restricting the group’s activities, but these rewards are not enough. ISIS continues to operate in small, scattered cells in countries across the region, and combating the group requires intelligence and information-sharing cooperation."
Rooters previously reported in 2024 that Sanaullah Ghafari, also known as Shahab al-Muhajir, was living in Pakistain’s Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... province.
The Islamic Emirate has also previously said on several occasions that it targeted ISIS in parts of Pakistain, including Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Sarwar Niazi, a military affairs analyst, said: "ISIS is a threat to peace in the region and the world, and all countries must take part in the fight against ISIS. Without cooperation among countries, no single country can prevent ISIS’s activities on its own."
The US announcement of these rewards comes as ISIS-Khorasan remains one of the gangs closely watched by countries in the region and the international community, amid concerns about the group’s financial and operational networks in the region.
Finally making them pay a little for their perverse pleasures.
[IsraelTimes] Foreign minister cites Amsterdam’s recent ban on imports from settlements to justify ousting representatives from the Netherlands from base in southern Israel used to monitor Gaza ceasefire.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced on Tuesday that Dutch representatives will be expelled from the US-backed international coordination center for Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... in the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Gat, citing a series of "anti-Israel measures" by the Netherlands.
"Representatives of the Netherlands will be expelled immediately from the International Gaza Aid Center in Kiryat Gat. I made this decision today, with the approval of Prime Minister Netanyahu, following a series of anti-Israel measures taken by the Dutch government," Sa’ar wrote on X.
He cited as the latest example the Netherlands’ July decision to ban imports from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, beginning September 22.
"Notice of this decision was delivered this evening to the Dutch Embassy in Israel and, of course, also to our American friends. The Dutch representatives have been instructed to leave Israel within one week," Sa’ar added.
The Netherlands has taken a series of steps against Israel in the wake of the Hamas ..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,... -led October 7, 2023, attack and subsequent Gaza war, including barring far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir from entering the country, restricting arms exports to Israel and backing increased European pressure over Israeli policies in Gaza and the West Bank.
"The Dutch government’s anti-Israel policy has been accompanied by an unprecedented wave of antisemitism and boycotts in the Netherlands. Our message is clear: Those who act against Israel will have no foothold in the region. Israel will not allow measures to be taken against it without a response," the minister said.
There was no immediate public response to the move by the Dutch authorities.
The Kiryat Gat center was originally established as the Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) under US President Donald Trump ...They hit him with slander, they impeached him twice. Nancy Pelosi tore up his State of the Union address on national TV. They stole an election and put his adherents in jail. They vilified him. They couldn't crucify him, so they shot him. Still, they can't keep him down... ’s plan to end the Gaza war, housing international representatives tasked with monitoring the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, facilitating aid deliveries and developing postwar policy for the Strip.
It has since been overhauled and rebranded as the International Gaza Aid Center. It was not immediately clear how many Dutch representatives are currently stationed there or what roles they hold.
Sa’ar took a similar decision in April, banning Spanish representatives from the Kiryat Gat base over what he said was Madrid’s "anti-Israel obsession."
Israel has found itself increasingly at odds with Western and Arab countries over its conduct in the West Bank, Gaza, Syria and Leb ...The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else?...
[IsraelTimes] Reported move would be part of British response to E1 settlement expansion plan; some Labour officials warn it would be difficult to enforce; 140 party MPs sign letter of support.
The measures come amid a series of condemnations of the Israeli plan from European and Middle Eastern governments.
The planned E1 expansion would connect the Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim areas, effectively scuttling the prospect of contiguous Palestinian sovereignty between the population centers of Bethlehem, East Jerusalem and Ramallah — long considered the basis of a future Palestinian state.
The project was frozen for years amid fierce opposition from the international community, including past US administrations, which feared that building a new settlement neighborhood on the mostly empty tract of land would rule out the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Supporters of the E1 settlement expansion say they want to block Palestinian statehood. Last week, the government issued a tender for construction of seven residential compounds with 1,234 housing units in the E1 area, after greenlighting the construction of roughly 3,400 units last August.
Burnham, who entered 10 Downing Street on July 20, has taken a harder line against Israel than his predecessor, Keir Starmer.
In a leadership campaign video earlier this year, he said Britain should “do more to put pressure on the Israeli government,” including by considering further restrictions on arms exports and action against West Bank settlements.
Ireland, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands have already placed restrictions on trade with the settlements. But the move may prove divisive within the Labour Party, according to the Telegraph, which reported that some ministers and civil servants have warned that it would be difficult to enforce.
[Federalist] The State Department on Wednesday announced that a foreign tech group provides online infrastructure to U.S. domestic terror groups to conduct violence across the country. The department formally recognized Italy-based Autistici/Inventati as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group and subsequently sanctioned it.
According to the State Department, Autistici/Inventati, or the A/I Collective, is a "hacker cell that provides far-left extremists with encrypted communications, calls, and web-hosting services — all concealed from law enforcement. The A/I Collective is a central node in the far-left’s war on our civilization."
"These tools are specifically designed to support the operations of far-left terrorist networks, built to enable them to organize, recruit, communicate, disseminate propaganda, share target information and tactics, and carry out violent attacks — all while remaining anonymous, untraceable, and beyond the reach of the law," the State Department said. It operates in the U.S. and around the world.
The A/I Collective supported terror groups like Jane’s Revenge, which is responsible for firebombing pregnancy centers across the country after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, according to the State Department. Jane’s Revenge "relied on A/I Collective tools and services to publish official communiqués and claims of responsibility for violent and criminal acts and to incite copycat attacks."
[Dawn] The United States on Wednesday named the UK-based Paleostine Action group, which has been banned by the British government, as a "specially designated global terrorist" organization.
The US also issued sanctions against the group, claiming the move was for supporting "an act of terrorism".
Set up in 2020, Paleostine Action is appealing against the UK government ban, which has led to thousands of arrests. Rights groups have decried the ban, saying it was aimed at criminalising dissent.
Paleostine Action had increasingly targeted Israel-linked defence companies in Britannia, especially Israel’s largest defence firm Elbit Systems.
Responding to the US move on Wednesday, Huda Ammori, co-founder of Paleostine Action, said the group’s activities "have always been about saving lives by disrupting the Israeli war machine".
"The fact that Trump is now taking inspiration from Britannia’s repression of the movement for Paleostinian freedom exposes just how dangerous this ban is and should be a wake-up call to anyone who cares about free speech and civil liberties," Ammori said in a statement to Rooters.
Paleostine Action’s stated goal on its website is to end "global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime".
It gained visibility after Israel launched a devastating military onslaught on Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... following the Oct 7, 2023 attack by fighters from Paleostinian group Hamas ..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",... in southern Israel.
Since coming to power for his second term, US President Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... has issued orders for his government to designate what it terms "far-left" groups as terrorist organizations.
Wednesday’s US action also designated Italia-based Autistici/Inventati (also known as A/I Collective) as a "terrorist" organization.
The US Treasury Department also imposed sanctions on the transnational group Masar Badil, saying it operates as a front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine. The latter group had already been designated by the US as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation.
US State Department spokesperson Tommy Piggot declared all three groups, including Paleostine Action, as being "violent mostly peaceful far-left terrorist groups".
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington would bring "the full weight of our economic tools to bear" against far-left groups.
"Political terrorism has no place in our society, and we will continue to cut the financial lifelines of these groups until they are eliminated."
Britain’s ban on Palestine Action as a terrorist organization came after the group had increasingly targeted Israel‑linked defense companies in Britain, especially Israel’s largest defense firm Elbit Systems. The country’s Supreme Court said last month that it would hear an appeal against a lower court ruling that the ban was lawful.
The UK ban, which came into force on July 5, 2025, made membership in or support for the protest group a criminal offense punishable by up to 14 years in prison under the Terrorism Act.
It was banned shortly after a break-in at the Royal Air Force’s Brize Norton base in June 2025, in which activists damaged two military planes. In June, a judge jailed four activists for raiding an Elbit site near Bristol, in western England, in 2024 and causing over a million pounds in damage. One of them hit a police officer twice on the back with a sledgehammer, leaving her with a fractured spine.
As of July 2026, roughly 3,000 people have been arrested for holding signs in support of Palestine Action.
The US Treasury Department on Wednesday also imposed sanctions on an Italy-based entity it accused of supplying digital architecture, tools and services for the anti-fascist movement antifa and other far-left groups.
Trump's actions against NGOs, gutting of USAID, sanctions on ICC, leaving 66 world organizations, pulling back Civil Rights rulings & DEI regulations, firing federal workers, pursuing election integrity and clearing out fraud all damage the power of the foreign and domestic left. pic.twitter.com/MNicp2tM8D
Breaking: The US State Dept has connected Portland's Rose City Antifa to a foreign tech company that provides infrastructure to violent far-left extremist organizations.
The Oregon-based terror group has been using Italy-based A/I Collective to disseminate target information,…
[PJMedia] The Canadian left went woke while the American left was still pulling up its britches. Ever since rock-star politician Pierre Trudeau appeared on the scene in the late 1960s, Canada has been hopelessly, wildly, self-consciously hard-left-wing.
He made Canada a bilingual nation in 1969 and declared a policy of "multiculturalism" in 1971. He decriminalized homosexuality in 1967, long before American leftists made gays a kind of mascot for their agenda.
Like JFK in the U.S., Pierre Trudeau attracted a lot of female worship: "Trudeaumania," they called it. Politics as entertainment wasn't born in Canada, but the radical left saw Trudeau's mass appeal as a means to an end.
It should come as no surprise, then, that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) Basem Boshra, who is the Senior Director of Journalistic Standards and Public Trust at CBC News, sent out a memo recently, instructing its news staff how to report on the upcoming 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
“Do not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks," Mr. Boshra wrote, "all in bold letters, italicized, as if to emphasize the point," according to Warren Kinsella of the Toronto Star, who saw the memo.
“The hijackings led to passenger jet crashes,” it reads, again in italics.
Kinsella was dumbstruck.
Toronto Star:
I have never been among those who hate CBC. I still occasionally listen to CBC radio, and I admire some of the veteran journalists there — I send them notes, telling them so. I thought the Conservative Party’s pledge to eliminate the CBC was stupid. In remote parts of a vast country, we need a broadcaster that fairly and accurately represents the news.
Except this direction from CBC management is not that. It is not fair and it is in no way accurate. It is rewriting the historical record. It is manipulating facts to fit an ideological perspective. It is cruel and despicable. It is Orwellian.
"I contacted a couple of CBC’s designated spokespeople to ask them why CBC has decided that terrorism is no longer terrorism." Kinsella writes. "To ask them why 'hijackings [that] led to passenger jet crashes' is not considered terrorism."
The response that Kinsella got from CBC brass was just as Orwellian, or as Townhall's Matt Vespa characterizes it, "Yes, if we’re going by Orwellian/Oceanian lexicon here, it's double-plus good in the halls of the CBC."
Kerry Kelly, the poor woman assigned to defend the insensible, said she’d get back to me. She did. Here is what she said: “CBC’s longstanding language guidance regarding the terms ‘terrorist’ and ‘terrorism’ is a preference for the use of these words with attribution, a practice shared by many of the world’s top journalistic organizations. Our general manager and editor in chief has written publicly in the past on the subject.”
On this, Kerry Kelly is actually right. In my new book The Hidden Hand: The Information War and the Rise of Antisemitic Propaganda, I describe how too many news organizations do not use the word terrorism to describe terrorism. Other news organizations have called terrorists “activists” (BBC), “attackers” (CNN), “fighters” (New York Times), and “militants” (Time).
Kinsella points out that even the "government of Saudi Arabia — where the majority of the 9/11 killers came from — officially calls what happened on that day 'terrorism.'"
This embarrassing wordplay is done so as not to rile up the rubes and get them in an Islamophobic mood. It brings to mind that classic Darryl Worley song about 9/11, "Have You Forgotten."
They took all the footage off my T.V.
Said it's too disturbing for you and me
It'll just breed anger, that's what the experts say
If it was up to me, I'd show it every day
In addition to not getting Americans in a mood to do some Muslim-bashing, not referring to terrorism as terrorism protects the delicate sensibilities of, well, terrorists. It turns all Muslims, including violent jihadists, into victims when we conveniently leave out the plain-language definition of what happened in New York City, Washington, D.C., and a field in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001. All Muslims become a put-upon minority who are "unfairly" lumped in with violent jihadists.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
08/27/2026 14:05 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Schlichter on Canada eecept: "...And how dare America not recognize the moral superiority of a country that, if it were a stereotype, would be a fugly, sexually dysfunctional wine woman with a “Hate Has No Home Here” sign on the front lawn of the condo it shares with five cats, all named after characters in "Twilight.""
"“It is the practice of the CBC to exercise extreme caution before using the words ‘terrorist’ and ‘terrorism,'” CBC Public Affairs Director Kerry Kelly said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “The memo was a reminder of the longstanding practice that favours the use of these terms with attribution in our reporting.”
The memo was authored by Basem Boshra, CBC News’ senior director of journalistic standards and public trust, and surfaced ahead of the attacks’ 25th anniversary. The directive was first reported by Toronto Sun columnist Warren Kinsella, who said it was addressed to CBC News staff. “Do not refer to the Sept. 11 attacks as terrorist attacks,” the memo said."
[IsraelTimes] Municipal legislators vote to water down anti-Israel resolution, removing accusations of ‘genocide’ and ‘apartheid,’ instead passing a pro-Palestinian solidarity statement.
MBS doesn’t have President Trump wrapped around his little finger after all.
[IsraelTimesUS official insists Trump will only move forward with deal if kingdom joins Abraham Accords — something Riyadh conditions on Israel allowing irreversible path to Palestinian statehood.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/27/2026 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[181 views]
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[BB] Having only a handful of huge defense contractors limits competition and innovation, Under Secretary of War Emil Michael said during the Breitbart News policy event “AI is Here: What to Fear, What to Embrace,” on Tuesday in Washington, DC.
Michael and host Matthew Boyle discussed the Trump administration’s Department of War “encouraging competition in this space” and how that produces massive benefits.
“So, competition broadly for defense companies, it’s good, right? So, not to analogize to the Cold War too much, but we had 50 different big defense contractors. There was McDonnell Douglas and Lockheed, and then all these companies merged after the Cold War because they’re like, well, we don’t need to buy as much stuff anymore,” he said, explaining that this resulted in very few primary defense contractors.
“So, we better kind of merge and get slim and get our expenses under control because you’re not going to be buying as much stuff, and so we ended up with five primary, five or six primary defense contractors. When you have five or six, while the military is actually starting to grow again, as it did when the global war on terror started, you didn’t have enough competition, so what happens when you don’t have competition? Cost overruns, delays in schedule,” he said.
“They were charging us cost plus, so it wasn’t like, I’ll buy a missile for this much, and when you deliver it to me, you get paid. It was like you pay us for our time in developing this thing. So, what’s your incentive if you’re getting paid cost plus? Takes a long time. Costs a lot. So when I took this job, I said, well, I want to create five more new prime contractors in my tenure, and I don’t want to have to have them sue us to get the business because the new companies, SpaceX, Palantir, and Anduril, all had to sue the government for their first big contract because the rules were written in a complex way to defend the incumbents that was very hard for new companies to get in,” he said, explaining that they have been working to remove those barriers “so there’s a lot more competition.”
#2
That's been an ongoing problem since the end of the Vietnam era. It doesn't help when everyone is pushing gee-whiz tech requiring $$$ in development that smaller businesses can not compete with.
Palantir, and Anduril, all had to sue the government for their first big contract because the rules were written in a complex way to defend the incumbents that was very hard for new companies to get in
Congresscritter are wonderful to create such complexity for some unknown reason. /sarc
[IsraelTimes] Newsmax says Tehran’s agents were ‘on the ground’ monitoring PM’s son last December; he reportedly left without packing, and has been in Israel since
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 35-year-old son Yair was the target of an Iranian liquidation plot while he was living in Florida, US outlet Newsmax reported Wednesday, citing a US law enforcement source.
The report came a day after Netanyahu told Israel’s Channel 14 in a phone interview that "Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... targeted one of my sons. Iran tried to kill, to murder one of my sons."
He did not say which of his two sons was the target, or provide any further details on the plot. But according to the source that spoke to Newsmax, Israeli intelligence learned in December 2025 that Iran was planning to kill Yair in Florida, where he had spent much of his time in recent years.
Intelligence agencies believed that Iranian agents were "on the ground" in the Miami area conducting surveillance of the younger Netanyahu’s movements, according to the report.
Yair Netanyahu was told to immediately leave Florida and return to Israel, the report said, adding that he did so without packing his belongings and has been living in Israel ever since.
Yair Netanyahu had spent much of the previous several years living in the Miami area, where his reportedly luxurious lifestyle and the state-funded security provided to him repeatedly drew public attention in Israel.
His extended stay abroad drew criticism after the outbreak of the war sparked by Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... ’s October 7, 2023, attack, with critics questioning why the prime minister’s son remained overseas while hundreds of thousands of Israelis were serving in the military reserves.
Netanyahu defended the security provided to his sons in his Channel 14 interview, saying that without it, would-be assassins "would succeed."
Yair Netanyahu had long maintained a prominent and often combative presence on social media, where he has frequently weighed in on Israeli politics and attacked his father’s political opponents, government critics and members of the media.
The firebrand ...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments... right-wing activist and podcaster has also been associated with far-right European and American politicians and public figures.
In April 2023, Israeli media reported that Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu had asked their son to stop posting on social media and communicating directly with ministers and politicians amid accusations that he was inflaming political tensions.
Later that year, Yair liked a social media post accusing then-IDF chief Herzi Halevi of carrying out a "military coup" on October 7 by allegedly withholding advance knowledge of Hamas’s attack from the prime minister.
[KhaamaPress] A US review panel investigating the 2021 bombing at Kabul airport has uncovered previously undisclosed classified documents related to the attack, Sean Parnell, who leads the panel, said Wednesday, on the fifth anniversary of the bombing.
Parnell, senior adviser to US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and chairman of the Afghanistan Withdrawal Special Review Panel, said the documents were recovered from safes where they had been "stashed and hidden away." He said the panel’s review made clear why someone had attempted to conceal them, but he did not disclose their contents or identify who had allegedly hidden them.
Parnell said the panel would continue following the evidence and would not release conclusions before the investigation is complete. He did not give a timetable for the final report.
The suicide kaboom occurred on Aug. 26, 2021, at the Abbey Gate of then-Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ...Mugshots/Karzai_9-21-06.jpg... International Airport in Kabul during the US-led evacuation from Afghanistan. The attack killed 13 US service members and roughly 170 Afghan civilians and was carried out by an ISIS-K jacket wallah, according to a US Central Command supplemental review completed in 2024.
The current review was established by Hegseth in May 2025 to re-examine the US military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and the circumstances surrounding the Abbey Gate attack. Parnell was appointed to lead the panel.
The panel’s work follows a supplemental review by US Central Command that reaffirmed the findings of the original military investigation. That review concluded that the attack could not have been prevented at the tactical level and identified the suicide bomber as Abdul Rahman al-Pashtun-infested Logari, an ISIS-K member.
The discovery of additional classified documents could raise further questions about what was known and documented during previous investigations. However,
women are made to be loved, not understood... the documents have not been made public, and officials have not explained their contents.
It therefore remains unclear whether the newly discovered material will alter any previous findings or establish new evidence concerning decisions made before the attack.
Parnell said the panel’s goal is to provide a fuller account of how and why decisions were made during the final stages of the US military presence in Afghanistan. The investigation remains ongoing.
[IsraelAlma] The deadline set by the Iraqi government for Iran-aligned militias to surrender their weapons is approaching, and a series of reports published over the past week appear to indicate a gradual shift from declarations and negotiations to operational measures on the ground. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi’s government is demanding that the weapons be handed over to the state by September 30, the date also set for the end of the international coalition forces’ presence in Iraq. The government is threatening confrontation with organizations that refuse to cooperate.
Nevertheless, it is too early to conclude that Iraq is on the path toward fully dismantling the pro-Iranian militia network. While some militias have shown a degree of willingness to integrate into state institutions or surrender at least some of their weapons, the more hardline organizations continue to resist the process. At the same time, reports of a shift in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ operational methods raise the possibility that Iran is preparing to preserve a covert and independent capability in Iraq, even if the large military formations are reduced or formally dismantled. The significance of this process extends beyond the Iraqi arena: in recent years, Iraq’s pro-Iranian militias have actively participated in the regional conflict and carried out numerous drone and cruise missile launches against Israel and the Gulf states.
More at the link
Posted by: badanov ||
08/27/2026 00:00 ||
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[133 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies
[IsraelTimes] Set to open September 1 in crowded Al-Mawasi, facility will provide vaccinations, consultations, rehab for children with disabilities, education services with anti-hate messaging.
The Israeli humanitarian organization NATAN Worldwide Disaster Relief announced on Tuesday the opening of a new medical clinic that it will support at the Mega Academy of the Gaza Children’s Village (GCV), a humanitarian project aiming to give Palestinian children nutrition, healthcare, and trauma-informed support in addition to education via a curriculum devoid of hateful messaging.
The clinic, set to open on September 1 in the Al-Mawasi camp, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians live in tents in packed and squalid conditions, will be staffed by GCV nurses and doctors, while NATAN will offer telemedicine support.
[IsraelTimes] Malware, including wiretapping software, reportedly found during daily cybersecurity check at opposition Yashar party headquarters
Spyware designed to eavesdrop and extract sensitive information was recently discovered on the phones of two bigwigs in Gadi Eisenkot’s election campaign, Channel 12 reported Wednesday.
Because of the sensitive information the campaign handles for Eisenkot’s opposition Yashar party, campaign headquarters has recently implemented a strict security protocol, mandating daily cybersecurity checks and phone scans for some staffers, including its most bigwigs.
The report says the campaign’s private security firm found malicious software in two separate cases during those scans. Eisenkot’s own devices were not compromised, it added.
The malware included wiretapping software and activity trackers, the Hebrew outlet reported.
Eisenkot’s Yashar is set to become the largest Knesset party in October’s elections, according to most recent polls, just ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud. But the anti-Netanyahu Zionist parties are polling two or three seats short of a 61-strong majority in the 120-member Knesset.
Despite the apparent breaches, Eisenkot’s campaign has not filed a complaint with the police, Channel 12 said, and instead opted to bolster its cybersecurity measures and continue conducting daily scans of bigwigs’ devices.
Channel 12 did not report who may have been responsible for installing the spyware or when the devices were compromised.
Politicians and their aides have been increasingly targeted by attempts to hack and install malware on their devices in recent years. In many of these cases, the efforts have been claimed by Iran-linked groups, though Channel 12 did not report a connection to Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... in this case.
In January, the Iranian-linked Handala group published photos and videos it said were stolen from the phone of former minister Ayelet Shaked.
A month earlier, the group claimed to have hacked the phones of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chief of staff Tzachi Braverman and of former prime minister Naftali Bennett.
In all three instances, the group released photos, videos, and documents that it claimed to have obtained from the devices.
Bennett denied at the time that his phone had been breached, but admitted that hackers had accessed his Telegram account.
Also in December 2025, Likud MKs Tally Gotliv and Moshe Saada informed the Knesset security officer that they suspected their phones had been hacked.
Additionally, over the past two years, dozens of Israelis, including several soldiers and reservists, have been charged with espionage on behalf of Iran. In many cases, Iranian agents recruited Israelis via social media, specifically through Telegram, with promises of payment.
[NationalInterest] “Ski-jump” carriers are smaller and weaker than catapult-equipped ones—but as recent events involving the president show, catapults are far from a silver bullet for effective carrier operations.
Aircraft carriers, as the name suggests, are built to launch aircraft. That mission is central to why the carrier exists, and the method by which it does so is foundational to the carrier.
The two dominant systems used for carrier launches today are STOBAR (Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery), in which an aircraft launches under its own weight, and CATOBAR (Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery), under which it is assisted in takeoff by the use of a catapult. Both use arresting wires to recover aircraft. In practice, modern STOBAR carriers use a “ski jump” ramp at one end to aid in takeoff, giving those carriers a visually distinct appearance contrasting with a CATOBAR carrier’s flat deck. WHY WOULD ANYONE USE A STOBAR SYSTEM TODAY?
Today, the most advanced aircraft carriers in the world use a CATOBAR setup. This was not always the case; during World War II, some US Navy aircraft carriers lacked catapults, instead relying on the aircraft’s own power for takeoff (and sometimes turning into the wind for assistance).
Since the 1950s, however, catapults have become the baseline for US Navy operations. Until the 2010s, nearly all catapults were steam-powered; the Ford-class carriers have replaced these with electromagnetic catapults (EMALS), although the newer catapults have experienced mechanical difficulties and President Donald Trump has proposed replacing them.
A few points must be made in favor of the STOBAR system. It is a mechanically simpler approach; the carrier provides a short takeoff run ending in a ramp with a 12–14° lift. The fighter accelerates at maximum power and leaves the ramp with an upward flight path, buying a few extra seconds for its wings to generate sufficient lift before it crashes into the ocean. China’s Liaoning and Shandong, Russia’s (now defunct) Admiral Kuznetsov, and India’s Vikramaditya carriers all use STOBAR. There are no complicated catapult systems under this approach, which reduces engineering demands and allows countries without mature catapult technology to still operate conventional carriers.
Still, the absence of a catapult leaves the aircraft dependent only on its engine to provide all of the acceleration required to launch from a ship in a relatively short distance. Because aircraft takeoff performance depends on weight, wind, temperature, runway length, and thrust, a heavily loaded fighter needs more energy to reach flying speed than a lightly loaded one. STOBAR operations therefore impose restrictions on fuel and weapon loads, particularly from shorter launching positions or under unfavorable weather conditions.
The disadvantages of this system are readily apparent. Fighters face trade-offs—either they cannot take as much fuel, which reduces range, or they cannot take heavy weapons, which reduces their effectiveness. They can do less of either in poor weather, although no aircraft carrier is immune from this problem. And while STOBAR systems are mechanically simpler, if a nation is going to the trouble of building an aircraft carrier, it is already spending large amounts of money and investing in technical expertise; why not build the more capable system?
Indeed, many nations that used STOBAR systems to develop proficiency in carrier operations are now transitioning to CATOBAR ones. China’s third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, is catapult-powered, and future PLA Navy vessels will be as well. India’s next carrier, the INS Vishal, is also envisioned as a CATOBAR-equipped vessel, although details on its construction timeline are still unclear and the project may have been halted.
#2
..The EMALS are working fairly well aboard Ford, but there's another problem no one seems to be talking about: when you push that little red button and launch, EMALS gives off a strong and detectable electronic signature much like a radio signal.
Kinda hard to sneak up on somebody when you're broadcasting the launches every 30 seconds or so.
#3
Point of fact: whether catapult or ski jump, the carriers have to, have to, accomidate the aircraft's stall speed in take off. If it's below that, you're just throwing them in the water.
That's why the F-14's had to have swing wings. It was the only way to get the stall speed low enough on such a heavy aircraft.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
08/27/2026 11:27 Comments ||
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[IsraelTimes] Iran’s army announced Wednesday that weapons systems damaged during the war had been rebuilt and that Tehran had also imported new military systems.
“Systems in all branches of the military, including those that were damaged, have been rebuilt, and new systems have also been imported,” army spokesman Mohammad Akraminia said, according to Iranian state-run television.
“New systems have come through the defense industry and the army, and some have also been imported from abroad, and this equipment has enhanced our combat capabilities,” he added.
Akraminia said Iran had taken “serious measures in the field of reconstruction and redeployment of systems that had been damaged by the enemy,” the army spokesman said, adding that the country has now changed its military doctrine from defensive to offensive, calling pre-emptive strikes “legitimate.”
#1
Is that speech for foreign consumption or domestic? I doubt that they could have repaired very much and not this quickly. A blown up piece of military equipment isn't exactly fixed by grabbing some spare parts out of a bin.
#2
The Chinese and Russians have been sending technicians and parts recently, so there's that.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/27/2026 9:49 Comments ||
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#3
Either they used bailing wire to put it together, or Chinese techs are imbedded deeper than we know and parts and new weapons are flowing freely from China.
[IsraelTimes] In speech from presidential palace, Mazloum Abdi announces ‘end of mission’ for Syrian Democratic Forces, which formed in 2015 and led successful US-backed campaign against ISIS
The leader of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, the Washington-backed group at the forefront of the battle against the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadist group, announced their dissolution on Tuesday under a deal with the government.
After being Syria’s most highly-trained and organized paramilitary force for years, Washington promptly dropped the SDF in favor of the new US-friendly authorities in Damascus after the ousting of longtime ruler Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... in late 2024.
The forces’ leader, Mazloum Abdi, declared their dissolution in a televised speech at the presidential palace in Damascus.
"We announce today the end of the mission of the Syrian Democratic Forces and declare, with full responsibility, their dissolution as an independent military force," he said.
Abdi explained that the announcement followed "the completion of the process of integrating our forces into the brigades of the Syrian army."
The SDF was formed in 2015 at the instigation of the United States, which was impressed by the Kurdish fighters who had defeated ISIS in Kobane in the north and was seeking a reliable partner in the ongoing battle against the jihadists.
The group went on to spearhead the battle against ISIS, which was defeated territorially in Syria four years later.
"Since the creation of the SDF, its fighters have shouldered a heavy responsibility during one of the most difficult periods" for Syria, Abdi said in his address.
"They liberated many Syrian cities and towns, first from the Baathist regime, then from the terrorism of ISIS," he continued, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
"The circumstances have changed today and the country has entered a new phase characterized by peace and participation."
The SDF amassed around 100,000 fighters at its peak, both Kurds and Arabs, and controlled swathes of Syria’s oil-rich north and northeast.
But following January festivities that saw the Kurds lose large chunks of territory to government troops, the two sides signed a deal to integrate Kurdish military and civilian institutions into the state.
During the violence, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa signed a decree enshrining the Kurds’ national rights and recognizing Kurdish as a national language, an unprecedented step since Syria’s independence in 1946.
Copying the old Ottoman empire millet system, which gave certain religious and ethnic groups limited self rule in exchange for submission to the sultanate?
Arabs within the SDF’s ranks also defected en masse after Sharaa’s army took control of two previously Kurdish-held provinces, Raqqa and Deir Ezzor, leaving them at half their strength, according to Syria specialist Fabrice Balanche.
The Kurdish force faced repeated Turkish invasions between 2016 and 2019, with Ankara saying it wanted to push the fighters away from its border.
Turkey has long viewed the SDF as linked to the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which waged a decades-long insurgency in the country.
The January agreement, under which Kurdish fighters would be integrated into state structures, stipulates that the SDF commit to expelling all non-Syrian PKK leaders and members from the country.
The SDF’s integration into the state is a major victory for Sharaa, who has been trying to cement control over all of Syria since Assad’s fall.
However, the deal represented the last nail in the coffin for the Kurds’ long-held dream of autonomy.
Last week Abdi announced that the integration of the Kurdish administration with the Syrian state was complete, adding at the time: “Our struggle will continue, to cement our people’s rights in the constitution.”
[Breitbart] Massive lines at gas stations across Iran were spotted on Tuesday after the United States announced “Operation Economic Outcast,” an escalated campaign of economic sanctions and physical isolation against the regime in Tehran.
Al Arabiya spoke to Tehran residents who were apprehensive about the impact of the new sanctions, although some repeated the regime’s mantra about the “resilience” of Iranians as they contemplated gas shortages, soaring unemployment, and astronomical inflation rates.
The Iranians quoted by Al Arabiya notably used their real names, suggesting their contacts with the press were approved by the regime. i.e.: Spokesholes acting like civilians
“Naturally, sanctions affect people’s lives. People are being hurt, both those who are financially well-off and those who are financially weak. Yes, these sanctions are having an effect, but naturally, our people are resilient. These sanctions have been in place for 47 years,” said a realtor named Mehdi Yazdian.
“I personally am not afraid of war at all because this is our land, but I think that this war will be more economic and will cause people to feel a lot of pressure, and now maybe there will be protests again,” said an English teacher named Kia Farahani.
The regime remained defiant, with Economy Minister Ali Mandanizadeh claiming its planners had long anticipated the dramatic escalation of sanctions outlined by Bessent on Tuesday.
The National on Tuesday saw “signs of panic-buying in Tehran,” while government spokespersons struggled to reassure the public that “no decision has been made so far” to increase gas prices – although there could be some uncomfortable “structural reforms” to come.
Gasoline prices in Iran are controlled by the government and kept artificially low through subsidies, a practice that predates the 1979 Islamic revolution.
A price hike in 2019 caused massive nationwide protests, which the regime quelled by murdering over 300 people. Less dramatic price revisions in December 2025 inflamed public anger and led to the January 2026 uprising, which the regime suppressed by killing tens of thousands of its own people.
“Reports from the capital say several stations have closed or experienced disruptions, particularly in eastern and southern Tehran. Videos and images circulating online show lines of cars stretching around filling stations, while some motorists reportedly face lengthy waits to refuel,” The National said.
“Similar disruptions have been reported in other cities, including Kerman and Mashhad. The shortages come despite a sharp rise in gasoline distribution in Tehran,” it added.
“In Iran the immediate picture is one of rising demand colliding with an increasingly strained distribution network, with motorists lining up for hours and some stations running dry in Tehran even as more gasoline is being pushed into the capital,” The National concluded.
Iranian officials said Monday saw the largest distribution of gasoline so far this year in the capital city of Tehran, with over 26 million liters sent out to pumping stations.
President Masoud Pezeshkian’s office claimed no price increases in subsidized fuels were planned, but there could be tighter quotas at the pump and price increases for non-subsidized fuel. Iran’s fuel pricing scheme has three “tiers,” with lower subsidies for personal use and luxury vehicles.
Pezeshkian noted on Friday that the subsidies required to give Iranian consumers some of the cheapest fuel in the world are enormous. The lowest public price tier is less than one cent for a liter of fuel, but the government pays about 65 cents to refine and deliver each liter.
London-based dissident news site Iran International said on Tuesday the true picture is much bleaker than regime officials claim, with widespread fuel shortages already spreading across the country, and gas stations abruptly shutting down without explanation.
Posted by: Skidmark ||
08/27/2026 00:00 ||
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[FoxNews] Analyst says more Iran protests are inevitable, but asks whether nations will tangibly support the people and sever cooperation with the regime
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s Monday announcement that America will impose the economic equivalent of the military campaign that defeated Nazi Germany on the Islamic Republic of Iran could set off a series of events leading to the dissolution of the nearly 47-year-old dictatorship in Tehran, according to Iran experts.
Bessent’s declaration of economic warfare follows President Donald Trump’s commitment last week to launch an "economic D-Day" against the Tehran regime. The comprehensive U.S. economic pressure point campaign targeting Iran’s already troubled economy could have dramatic effects on the restive population in the country of over 90 million people.
"In the Second World War, D-Day marked the historic beginning of a campaign with our allies to target and drive the enemy from its positions, including those in third countries. Today, in that same spirit, we are launching an economic onslaught against Iran's financial connections around the globe," said Bessent. He added, "Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone. Iran's fanatics devote themselves to death to America and seek nuclear weapons to do just that. They have murdered and maimed more of our citizens and service members than any other terrorist regime on Earth."
Just hours before Bessent spoke, Iran’s currency, the rial, plunged to an all-time low. The rial fell to 2.02 million to the U.S. dollar. Iranians are struggling to afford basic goods.
Jonathan Harounoff, an Iran expert and British author of Persian heritage, told Fox News Digital that "Ultimately, this pressure campaign will likely continue to cripple the regime and set the stage for perhaps yet another domestic uprising. The precise timing of such a revolt is impossible to predict."
Harounoff, who has written extensively on upheavals in Iran against the clerical leadership, added, "What isn't impossible to predict is that the regime is governing brutishly over a repressed population that has endured sustained economic and social immiseration. It's only a matter of time before more protests break out, and the real question is whether international organizations like the U.N. and Western governments will choose to stand by — or tangibly support the Iranian people and actively sever any cooperation they maintain with the regime."
He warned that, "Too often, outsiders speak of regime change as if it were a passive exercise. Certainly, only the people of Iran can bring about organic, homegrown, transformational change — and they have 47 years of turmoil and repression driving them toward it. But there are real ways to support the Iranian people (Starlink, supporting think tanks and foundations, raising awareness of the plight of Iranians, etc.) and help them achieve what has, until now, been a quixotic dream."
Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told Fox News Digital, "The question is often asked: what makes this iteration of the maximum pressure campaign different from all other iterations? The answer is this iteration is taking place against a backdrop where there is a synchronization of economic and military pressure against the Iranian regime — a combination which has never been deployed by a U.S. administration until now. The U.S. naval blockade currently in place against Tehran is unprecedented. The Iranian regime's industrial base — for example, steel plants — has also been damaged following kinetic strikes. The Iranian regime’s military capacity has likewise been degraded."
He noted, "So Operation Economic Outcast is being launched at a time of true weakness in terms of its national power. The regime's risk tolerance may be increasing, but so is its desperation. The drivers pushing the Iranian people into the streets to protest have only gotten worse since January — with political, economic and social forces all deteriorating. The regime is seeking to use the tussle over the Strait of Hormuz as a distraction from all of this."
Beni Sabti, an Iran expert at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Israel, told Fox News Digital that "there are some protests inside Iran for pensioners and those who did not get their salaries."
He said the January protests began with "economic problems." President Trump has said that the Iranian regime murdered 52,000 Iranian demonstrators during the Jan. 8 and 9 mass protests against the regime.
Sabti, who was born in Tehran and has deep sourcing in Iran, said Trump’s economic offensive campaign against Iran could "bring out the people again." He said there were some "rumors" that lower-rank army soldiers did not receive their salaries.
The U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent seized on the point that the regime will have payroll problems today. He said, "To the ordinary soldiers supporting this regime, as more and more of your paychecks stop or are supposedly just delayed, ask whether your commanders are leading your country to triumph or to ruin, and recall that the Berlin Wall fell when ordinary soldiers decided not to shoot at their own people."
Posted by: NoMoreBS ||
08/27/2026 00:00 ||
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#1
...It took two atomic bombs and a ground invasion against Japanese forces in China to convince the Japanese to give up, and even then there were efforts to thwart a surrender right to the end. Sadly, I think the Iranian whatever-they-call-a-government isn't even close.
#3
Let's say the US - & Allies to manage to kick the current fanatic regime leadership out.
Iran & plus the other funded groups it trained have 3+ Generations that they have brainwashed.That will quickly move in to replace them.
There will always be a constant threat from Fanatical Islam.
Its very religion is build on getting closer to GOD by enslaving, conquering or destroying anything their leadership feels will keep them in power and the masses under control.
The UK has over 1700 a mosques.
The USA has over 3,400 mosques.
[Rudaw] The spokesperson for Iran’s armed forces on Wednesday threatened journalists working for several Persian-language media outlets abroad, describing them as “soldiers” of Israel and the United States and saying they could be treated as military targets.
Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi made the remarks during a visit to Defa Press, a media outlet linked to Iran’s defense establishment, explicitly naming Iran International, BBC Persian, Manoto and Radio Farda and accusing their employees of working on behalf of Tehran’s enemies.
“Media outlets such as BBC, Iran International and Radio Farda are directly connected to [the Israeli intelligence agency] Mossad, the [US’s Central Intelligence Agency] CIA and hostile intelligence organizations, and receive their operational direction and support from them,” Shekarchi said.
“Those who work for these outlets are considered soldiers of Zionism and the criminal [United States of] America, and they could even be included in the military target bank, because from our perspective, these are not media organisations.”
The remarks represent an unusually direct threat against journalists working for Persian-language media outside Iran and come amid the continuing conflict between Tehran and Washington.
Iranian authorities have for years portrayed Persian-language broadcasters based overseas as part of a wider foreign campaign against the Islamic Republic, often framing their reporting as part of a wider psychological warfare or a national security threat.
Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... has designated Iran International, based in London, as a terrorist organization since 2022 and has warned that cooperation with the channel is punishable under Iranian law.
In 2023, the broadcaster temporarily moved to studios in Washington, DC, after what it described as an escalation of "state-backed threats from Iran." The station later resumed operations at a new location in London.
On Friday, a British teenager pleaded guilty over an arson attack at offices linked to Iran International in northwest London earlier this year.
Nathan Dunn, 19, pleaded guilty to a charge of "arson being reckless as to whether life is endangered" at London’s Old Bailey over the incident in April in which an ignited container was thrown towards premises belonging to Volant Media, the parent company of the London-based broadcaster.
The device landed in a car park, and the fire extinguished itself, causing no damage or injuries.
Dunn had originally been charged alongside a 21-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be identified because of his age. The broadcaster said at the time that a suspicious vehicle had been denied entry to its London site shortly before the incendiary device was thrown.
Posted by: badanov ||
08/27/2026 00:00 ||
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Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.
[ColonelCassad] Iranian sources claim that CIA Director John Ratcliffe flew to Moscow to pressure Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz.
According to Iranian sources, the Kremlin refused and the threat of American sanctions against companies trading with Iran does not faze Russia.
Russia rejected the US demand to pressure Iran. According to two high-ranking Iranian sources familiar with the briefing, CIA Director John Ratcliffe's visit to Moscow was accompanied by an American demand that Russia pressure Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, the Hormuz Letter. Washington warned that otherwise, Russian banks, trading companies, and shipping companies involved in Iranian oil, gold, and aviation supplies could be subject to sanctions under Operation Economic Outcast.
However, Moscow rejected this demand. Russian representatives informed Iran that the measures threatened by the United States would have limited consequences for Russia and would not significantly affect its position. Thus, Moscow effectively made it clear to Washington that it does not intend to use its influence on Tehran to further American policy regarding the Strait of Hormuz
The Kremlin previously commented on the visit of the CIA Director to Russia. The Kremlin on the visit of the CIA Director to Moscow.
1. Putin was informed about the results of contacts with CIA Director Ratcliffe. There were no contacts between Putin and the CIA Director.
2. It is premature to talk about the influence of the CIA Director's contacts with Russian intelligence services on resolving the crisis in Russia-US relations.
3. Contacts between Russian and US intelligence services continue even during the most difficult periods in bilateral relations.
4. Visits of other high-ranking US representatives to Russia are not planned in the near future;
--(c) Peskov
How close to the truth the Iranian statements are will be seen soon enough. If everything is as the Iranians are reporting, then in the next couple of weeks the US should impose sanctions against Russian companies and government entities associated with supporting Iran and trading with it.
Earlier, the US announced it would wage an economic war against the Iranian economy and pressure countries that trade with Iran and help it evade sanctions.
"This (Ratcliffe's visit to Moscow – Ed.), you know, is a fairly ordinary, practically routine meeting. I'm sorry to upset people," the American leader said in an interview with journalist Glenn Beck.
The White House chief noted that Ratcliffe's visit could yield some results, and Washington would like to see the Ukrainian crisis end. Trump, however, reiterated that the conflict would never have started if he were president in 2022.
Ratcliffe arrived in Moscow on August 25 aboard an American Boeing C-17. Foreign media reported that the CIA chief intended to hold meetings in Moscow. Details of his visit were not disclosed.
Later, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the contacts took place through official services. He had no contact with President Vladimir Putin, but the head of state was promptly informed of everything.
In March 2025, Ratcliffe spoke by telephone with Sergei Naryshkin, head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service. The two sides discussed cooperation between the two intelligence agencies in areas of common interest and crisis management. The head of the SVR had previously stated that the heads of the intelligence agencies effectively maintained a direct line of communication and could quickly arrange a telephone conversation if necessary.
"US allies are privately warning that the Strait of Hormuz is likely still mined," the publication noted.
According to the allies, demining is complicated by the fact that some mines have shifted their positions due to sea currents, requiring advanced technology. The Europeans want Iran to allow Oman to launch a similar mission.
The US Navy has cleared all mines in the Strait of Hormuz. The US President made this announcement on August 25. Trump assured Iran that any ship laying new mines would be immediately destroyed.
On August 15, the head of the Islamic Republic's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abbas Araghchi, stated that Iran is not yet ready to resume negotiations with the United States, and the issue of opening the Strait of Hormuz remains unresolved.
On August 16, The Wall Street Journal, citing sources, reported that intelligence services in several Arab countries have learned of Iran's preparations to escalate its war against the United States and Israel. It is noted that Tehran's primary goal is to inflict damage on the enemy that will permanently prevent a repeat of the attacks of past conflicts.
Posted by: badanov ||
08/27/2026 00:00 ||
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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.
..one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede,...
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
