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Antisemitism and Israel: A challenge to the Australian narrative (Part 2)

By Evan Jones | 27 April 2026, https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/antisemitism-and-israel-a-challenge-to-the-australian-narrative,20974

Part 2

The Commission’s Terms of Reference

‘AND the determination of the Australian Government to respond to the attack, and the factors leading up to the attack, as a matter of urgency by addressing antisemitism within the Australian community, including since 7 October 2023.’

Investigating the factors leading up to the attack could and should have been the responsibility of the mooted and more suited Richardson review. A royal commission is not the most appropriate vehicle towards this end.

Any investigation regarding “antisemitism” in Australia has to put Israel front and centre. The “official” Jewish community, AKA the Zionist lobby, naturally wants to exclude it.

The appalling Segal Report contains no substantive reference to Israel (my dissection here and here), thus being not merely worthless but disingenuous (vide Gwenaël Velge’s summary of the counter-Segal Greenslade and Briskman report, Not in Our Name: Jewish Australians Speak Out) and dangerous. Ditto the absence of any substantive reference to Israel in the most recent annual report (December 2025) of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (sic) (dissected here).

‘AND that the Australian Government has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.’

This submitter is frankly gobsmacked to find that this fraudulent “definition” has been officially adopted. The definition has been widely criticised, including by one of its originators, Kenneth Stern. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition is essentially about demonising criticism of Israel. Any proposed definition of antisemitism that attempts to delineate the terms on which one is allowed to criticise Israel without censure is automatically illegitimate.

The adoption of the IHRA definition nullifies any legitimacy that the paraphernalia of a royal commission might have and destroys any prospect of an honest analysis and a substantive functional prognosis. This adoption of the IHRA definition gives the impression that the Royal Commission, even inadvertently, will serve as yet another front for the pro-Israel lobby.

With the Royal Commission proceeding based on the IHRA definition, it can only turn into an inquisition. It can have nothing intelligent or ethical to offer about real antisemitism and can have nothing to offer in terms of genuinely dealing with it. It will be remembered as a squandering of the significant money that funds it and for the farcical theatre that is its essence.

‘AND recognising that strengthening the national consensus in support of democracy, freedom and the rule of law (social cohesion) provides the strongest defence against antisemitism and other forms of religious and ideologically motivated extremism.’

This sentence reads like it was written by AI. Who wrote this rubbish? One cannot have social cohesion as long as a particular Australian community coheres and operates actively as a fifth column in support of a foreign rogue state and influences Australian politics, both foreign and domestic, and media towards that end.

AND that hearing from the Jewish Australian community will be important to informing the recommendations of your inquiry and recognising concerns relating to educational and cultural institutions, and other sections of Australian society.’

Which ‘Jewish Australian community’? Is this obscurantism a product of naivete or of cynical contempt? Is the pro-Israel lobby running this show? Will anti-Zionist Jews and their organisations be consulted? Will anti-Zionist non-Jewish organisations (which have Jewish membership), such as the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, be consulted?

‘…and recognising concerns relating to educational and cultural institutions…’ Meaning? Which and whose concerns? Is this an oblique reference to forthcoming censorship, sackings, institutional defunding and hasbara implants as foreshadowed in the Segal Report?

To the Honourable Virginia Bell AC

We do… appoint you to be a Commission of inquiry, and require and authorise you to inquire into the following matters:

(a) tackling antisemitism by:…

This section is at the heart of the Commission’s Terms of Reference misdirection. Misdiagnosed symptoms are highlighted rather than causes.

The authorities need to cut the umbilical cord between the Australian Jewish community (including demolishing the pernicious influence of its Zionist leadership) and the criminal state of Israel.

In particular, (a)(iv) deserves comment. The ‘mental health and wellbeing of Jewish Australians’? No doubt the Commission hearings will consider the mental health of anti-Zionist Australian Jews who experience the mental anguish of seeing Jewish Israelis acting like Nazis (and supposedly in the name of global Jewry), but who also suffer the obloquy of abuse by the Australian Zionist Jewish establishment for their ethical stance.

As for the mental health of Australian Zionist Jews, tied inexplicably to a racially supremacist Israel, it is a psychopathology and to their own account — save that their aberrant mental state has the Palestinians (and now the Iranians and, once again, the Lebanese) as its ongoing victims.

Zionist Jewish University students, fresh from their “faith” schools with their “love of Israel” and now nurtured in the bosom of the Zionist Australasian Union of Jewish Students, find their “sensitivities” affected by campus protests against Israeli genocide. So as not to upset these sensitive souls, inured to the genocide of lesser ethnicities, campus protests have to be shut down.

If the Commission is concerned with shoring up the ‘mental health and wellbeing of [Zionist] Jewish Australians’, it is not an agenda that any Australian imbued with ethical sympathies (which includes anti-Zionist Jewish Australians) could have any tolerance for.

‘(b) making any recommendations to assist law enforcement, border control, immigration and security agencies…’

Is this code for inhibiting access to refugee status of people escaping Israeli onslaughts and who naturally take a dim view of Israel’s modus operandi?

‘(c) examine the circumstances surrounding the antisemitic Bondi terrorist attack…’

This was supposed to be the focus of the Richardson review, but that was merged inappropriately into the Royal Commission’s framework. Now Richardson has retired, recognising the Commission’s structured dysfunctionality. The most important subject for investigation is now without a suitable home and personnel to proceed.

‘(d) make any other recommendations… that would contribute to strengthening social cohesion…’

The means to strengthening social cohesion is to dismantle the pro-Israel lobby in Australia and for the Albanese Government to develop and sustain a principled foreign policy. By contrast, the Terms of Reference of this Commission appear to direct the Commission’s operations to enhance that lobby’s influence and to ignore and to implicitly condone the Government’s cowardice.

Methinks that the Royal Commission’s slip is showing. One gets the strong impression that one is in for more than farce. Rather, the Australian public is in for an authoritarian state run in the interests of an Australian Zionist mafia, with which the current Australian Labor Government is already in cahoots (and the Liberal Opposition even more craven).

April 30, 2026 Posted by | Atrocities, AUSTRALIA, Israel | Leave a comment

NBC News Drops Bombshell Report on Trump War Battle Damage: ‘Far Worse’ Than Trump Team Said

Tommy Christopher Apr 25th, 2026, https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/nbc-news-drops-bombshell-report-on-trump-war-battle-damage-far-worse-than-trump-team-said/

NBC News dropped a bombshell report on Saturday that multiple government officials say damage to U.S. military bases was much more extensive than President Donald Trump’s officials have publicly disclosed.

The president is preparing to speak at his first White House Correspondents’ Dinner (WHCD) in office on Saturday night, as will frequent press attackers like Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and FCC Chair Brendan Carr.

Pentagon reporting has been in the administration’s crosshairs, but a parade of anonymous government sources nevertheless contributed to the reporting by NBC’s Gordon Lubold, Courtney Kube, Mosheh Gains, and Natasha Lebedeva.

The team attributed six sources for their report, which revealed that repairs from the Iran War damage will cost billions:

American military bases and other equipment in the Persian Gulf region suffered extensive damage from Iranian strikes that is far worse than publicly acknowledged and is expected to cost billions of dollars to repair, according to three U.S. officials, two congressional aides and another person familiar with the damage.

The Iranian regime swiftly retaliated after the Trump administration attacked on Feb. 28, hitting dozens of targets across U.S. military bases in seven Middle East countries. Those attacks struck warehouses, command headquarters, aircraft hangars, satellite communications infrastructure, runways, high-end radar systems and dozens of aircraft, according to the U.S. officials and an assessment by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C.

In the initial days of the war, an Iranian F-5 fighter jet bombed the U.S. base Camp Buehring in Kuwait, despite the base having air defenses, a rare breach that marked the first time an enemy fixed-wing aircraft has struck an American military base in years, according to two of the U.S. officials.

The U.S. bases that came under attack are home to thousands of American troops, and in some cases their families, though they were largely cleared out in the days and hours before the U.S. and Israeli went to war with Iran.

Read the full report here.

April 28, 2026 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Nuclear War at Ukraine-Russia border could trigger years of global climate disruption and radioactive fallout, research suggests.

 Duncan Sandes, 23 April 26, https://news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-environment-science-and-economy/nuclear-war-at-ukraine-russia-border-could-trigger-years-of-global-climate-disruption-and-radioactive-fallout-research-suggests/

Geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe underscore the urgency of addressing the climate and radiological consequences of a regional nuclear conflict.

Even a small-scale nuclear conflict at the Ukraine–Russia border could cause years of severe global climate disruption and radioactive fallout across much of the world, new research suggests.

In the study, published in npj Clean Air, researchers at the University of Exeter used the UK Earth System Model to simulate a hypothetical regional nuclear conflict at the Ukraine-Russia border. The results shows that the soot emitted after nuclear detonation would rapidly spread through the atmosphere, block sunlight and disrupt climate across the Northern Hemisphere.

In the first year after the conflict, the Northern Hemisphere cools by about 1°C on average, with much larger regional drops of around 5°C in Russia and 4°C in the United States. Surface sunlight declines sharply, and precipitation falls substantially across key mid-latitude agricultural regions.

The researchers also found that the climate effects would not be short-lived, lasting for approximately 6 years. Stratospheric warming caused by the soot alters major atmospheric circulation patterns, including the jet streams and the Intertropical Convergence Zone.

Alongside the climate impacts, the study examined the long-term dispersion of radioactive material attached to the black carbon particles. The results suggest that long-lived radionuclides could be transported globally, with around 40% eventually depositing in the Southern Hemisphere. This means the consequences of a regional nuclear conflict would not remain confined to the war zone but would instead become a global humanitarian and environmental issue.

Lead author Dr Ananth Ranjithkumar, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, said: “Even a small-scale regional nuclear conflict would not remain a regional catastrophe for long. Our simulations show that its effects could reverberate across the planet for years, disrupting climate systems and spreading radioactive fallout far beyond the detonation zone, turning a regional war into a global crisis.”

Co-Author Professor Jim Haywood, also of the University of Exeter added: “This study confirms the global impact of regional nuclear conflicts upon climate, and emphasises that the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that ended February 5, 2026 urgently needs to be extended.”

Co-Author Professor Nathan Mayne, also from the University of Exeter said “This is an excellent example of how our studies of other planets can contribute to understanding Earth’s climate.

“From planet wide dust storms on Mars, to kilometre per second winds in the atmospheres of extremely hot gas giant planets, our adaptations lead to improvements in how we capture climate and weather phenomena for Earth itself both in `normal’ and, in this case, extreme situations.”

The study, Nuclear Conflict in Eastern Europe: Climate disruption and Radiological fallout, is available to read here .

April 27, 2026 Posted by | climate change, Ukraine, weapons and war | Leave a comment

‘Worst investment ever’: Expert fumes as first $4.2billion taxpayer-funded payment for nuclear subs paid to US

We keep forking out money for submarines I’m definitely not going to live to see, and I don’t know if young people will live to see them ever arrive,’ he told the Daily Mail.

‘It is doubling down on something that was a bad idea to start with.

If and when submarines ever did arrive, they would be undoubtedly redundant, overtaken by cheap and cheerful anti-submarine drone technology.

‘If we build this base, it will undoubtedly be a prime nuclear target, because who wouldn’t want to take out a couple of nuclear-armed submarines from America.’

  • US announces the first AUKUS contract
  • But experts raise the alarm about the deal

By CAITLIN POWELL – NEWS REPORTER and TESS IKONOMOU FOR AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS, 24 April 2026 https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15761031/AUKUS-contract-Mark-Beeson.html

The Trump administration has signed off on the first AUKUS submarine contract, funded by a hefty taxpayer-funded payment from the Albanese government.

The Pentagon confirmed on Friday that nuclear-powered submarine capabilities would be transferred from the United States to Australia.

The contract, worth $276million ($US197million), will be covered by the Labor government’s first down payment of $4.2billion ($US3billion), the ABC reports.

The US Navy has set targets to almost double construction to 2.33 boats per year to build up its fleet, the ABC reports.

But, during a series of congressional hearings this week, data revealed the pace of production has dropped to 1.1 boats per year due to construction delays. 

An Australian Submarine Agency spokesperson told the Daily Mail they welcomed the announcement of the new contract.

‘(It) strengthens the United States’ ability to deliver Foreign Military Sales commitments to partners, including Australia,’ they said.

‘This represents further momentum and commitment by AUKUS partners to deliver on the Optimal Pathway.’

Professor Beeson has made no secret of his concerns about the trilateral deal between Australia, the US and the United Kingdom. 

‘I think it’s possibly the worst investment Australia’s ever made in anything, but particularly in defence material,’ he said.

‘It is doubling down on something that was a bad idea to start with

The 2021 AUKUS pact is designed to counter China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific and involves Australia acquiring Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines from the US by 2032.

However, the alliance relies on the US building enough defence vessels itself before some are sent to Australia.

International politics expert and AUKUS critic, Professor Mark Beeson, said the contract epitomised Australia’s dependence on American productivity.

‘We keep forking out money for submarines I’m definitely not going to live to see, and I don’t know if young people will live to see them ever arrive,’ he told the Daily Mail. 

‘It’s because, famously, the Americans can’t build as many as they would like, or consider they need. There’s going to be no spare capacity for these submarines.’ 

‘The only way to get a more credible-looking outcome for AUKUS is by continuing to supply the Americans and eventually the British with lots of loot to rebuild shipyards and increase the production line for these submarines.

‘If and when submarines ever did arrive, they would be undoubtedly redundant, overtaken by cheap and cheerful anti-submarine drone technology.

‘If we build this base, it will undoubtedly be a prime nuclear target, because who wouldn’t want to take out a couple of nuclear-armed submarines from America.’

The Australian-funded contract has been awarded to US Navy contractor General Dynamics Electric Boat, which will see construction take place on American soil at a Connecticut shipyard.

As such it is between the US Government and industry to support Foreign Military Sales requirements and activities.

While that policy includes AUKUS, Australia is not party to the contract itself and this investment does not relate to Australia’s contribution to the construction of the US Submarine Industrial Base. 

The announcement comes just hours after opposition industry spokesman Andrew Hastie said Australia incurred ‘strategic trade-offs’ in doubling down on its alliance with Washington.

‘We forgot the hard lessons of war, and outsourced our security to the United States,’ he said at the Robert Menzies Institute in Melbourne on Thursday. 

‘It has cost us sovereign capabilities like a robust defence industry, and our strategic freedom of action in ways that we are now discovering.’

A former special forces officer, Hastie pointed to the fuel crisis triggered by the Middle East conflict and Australia’s de-industrialisation as examples of the nation betting too much on the dominance of the US.

COMMENT. Andrew Hastie conveniently forgetting that it was his own party, theLiberal-National Coalition, that signed up tp AUKUS in the first placde

He warned that, if the security alliance with the US was to endure for another 75 years, Australia needed to urgently invest in its industrial base and defence force.

‘We must grow our industrial might and hard power,’ he said.

April 26, 2026 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, weapons and war | 1 Comment

War Chokes the Food Chain: Hormuz Crisis Threatens Global Hunger Shock

April 23, 2026, SCHEERPOST,  

UN officials warn that the U.S.–Iran conflict and the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz are triggering a fertilizer collapse that could ripple into food shortages, soaring prices, and mass hardship worldwide.

A farmer stands in a field outside Amritsar, India, scattering fertilizer across green crops—an ordinary act that now sits at the edge of a global emergency. What should be routine agricultural labor has become a symbol of a system under strain, where the most basic input to grow food is increasingly uncertain.

That uncertainty is not accidental. It is the direct consequence of war.

A top United Nations official has issued a stark warning: if the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted, the world could face a “significant and severe” food crisis. Roughly one-third of global fertilizer shipments pass through this narrow maritime chokepoint. Now, amid escalating conflict between the United States and Iran, that flow is breaking down.

This is how modern war works. It doesn’t just destroy cities—it strangles systems.

With tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz frozen by the widening Persian Gulf crisis, the UN is warning that the world is sleepwalking into a preventable famine. One‑third of global fertilizer trade has been choked off, and Jorge Moreira da Silva — tapped by Secretary‑General António Guterres to lead an emergency task force — says the world’s poorest farmers are now racing against a biological clock that diplomacy can’t match. “The planting season has already started…So if we don’t get some solution immediately the crisis will be very significant and severe, particularly for the poorest countries and for the poorest citizens,” he told UN News. Countries already battered by conflict and climate shocks — Sudan, Somalia, Mozambique, Kenya, Sri Lanka — face catastrophic yield collapses if fertilizers don’t move within days, not weeks. The UN’s proposed workaround is a seven‑day “one‑stop platform” to shepherd fertilizer shipments through the blocked corridor, a stopgap da Silva insists is not a challenge to freedom of navigation but a last‑ditch effort to prevent what the World Food Programme warns could push 45 million more people into hunger and starvation. In a region where political will is scarcer than ammonia, the UN says the real commodity running out is time.

From Oil Shock to Food Shock

The Strait of Hormuz is not just about النفط and geopolitics—it is the artery through which the global agricultural system breathes. Fertilizers, particularly nitrogen-based ones tied to natural gas, are essential to maintaining crop yields. When those inputs stall, the consequences cascade:

  • Farmers reduce planting or cut fertilizer use
  • Crop yields decline
  • Food supplies tighten
  • Prices surge

UN officials are clear: the timeline is brutally short.

As negotiations drag on with no guarantee of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, UN officials are warning that the world is running out of buffer time. Fertilizer isn’t just another commodity stuck behind a geopolitical choke point — it’s the backbone of global food production, and its absence hits fragile states first and hardest. UNOPS chief Jorge Moreira da Silva says the organization is prepared to deploy monitors, verification teams and a fast‑track approval system within a week, but only if the parties blocking the corridor agree to let humanitarian shipments through. Until then, farmers from East Africa to South Asia are being forced into a planting season without the basic inputs needed to keep yields from collapsing. Agencies like the World Food Programme have already warned that the disruption could push tens of millions toward hunger, a cascading crisis born not of drought or disaster but of political paralysis at one of the world’s most vital maritime arteries.

“We can’t wait… the planting season has already started… if we don’t get some solution immediately, the crisis will be very significant and severe.”

The clock isn’t theoretical—it’s agricultural………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The Politics of Consequence

This crisis is not an abstract market fluctuation. It is a political outcome.

The decision to escalate war with Iran—and the resulting instability in the Strait of Hormuz—has triggered a chain reaction that now threatens global food security.

And like most global crises, the burden will not be shared equally.

Vulnerable populations face hunge

Wealthy nations absorb higher prices

Poor nations face scarcity

What begins as a geopolitical strategy ends as a humanitarian emergency.

As “Food prices will definitely rise in the coming months, making it more difficult for many people around the world to afford adequate and healthy diets,” Matin Qaim, executive director of the Center for Development Research at the University of Bonn in Germany, told Al Jazeera.

“Poor people in Africa and Asia will be hurt the most because they have to spend a high share of their income on food anyway,” Qaim said.

“Hunger and undernutrition will very likely rise.”

A Narrow Window

The UN is blunt: the situation is not yet irreversible—but the window is closing.

Avoid trade restrictions. Stabilize supply chains. Restore flow through Hormuz. Support farmers before planting decisions are locked in.

Or don’t—and watch a preventable crisis unfold.

Because by the time empty shelves appear, it will already be too late. https://scheerpost.com/2026/04/23/war-chokes-the-food-chain-hormuz-crisis-threatens-global-hunger-shock/

April 26, 2026 Posted by | weapons and war | Leave a comment

Staggering amount for guns, bullets, bombs, space superiority

$1.5 Trillion Budget Request Prioritizes Service Members, Modernization

U.S. Department of War, April 21, 2026 

“We are delivering on President [Donald J.] Trump’s commitment to expand American military dominance for decades to come,” said Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. “Previous administrations underinvested in our military while our enemies grew stronger and more dangerous, so we are now changing the game. This budget builds this arsenal without compromising readiness that will ensure we remain the world’s premier fighting force, we protect the homeland, and we create peace through strength now and into the future.” 

The FY27 budget request represents a sizable increase over last year’s budget, said Jules W. Hurst III, performing the duties of the War Department comptroller. 

“This is a generational investment in the United States military— the arsenal of freedom,” Hurst said. “This 42% increase will supercharge our defense industrial base by expanding production of major weapon systems, while strengthening supply chains and supporting tens of thousands of small and medium-sized businesses. It secures our homeland and military advantage through investments in the Golden Dome missile defense system, drone dominance and space superiority.” 

This year’s budget request puts a huge focus on buying and investing in actual hardware, Hurst said. About 52% of the total budget request is aimed at buying munitions, planes, tanks and ships. 

“The FY27 defense budget will be the largest investment in military capabilities in over a generation,” Hurst said. “This budget allocates over $750 billion … just in capability development and procuring weapons systems.”……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. https://www.war.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4465551/15-trillion-budget-request-prioritizes-service-members-modernization/

April 26, 2026 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

No Peace, Only Escalation: The Push Toward Total War With Iran

April 22, 2026 , https://scheerpost.com/2026/04/22/no-peace-only-escalation-the-push-toward-total-war-with-iran/

As ceasefire talks collapse, retired Col. Douglas Macgregor warns that Washington is not negotiating—it’s preparing for a devastating, infrastructure-targeting war that could reshape the global order.

The language of peace still lingers in official statements—but on the ground, the machinery of war is accelerating.

In this stark and deeply unsettling conversation, retired U.S. Colonel Douglas Macgregor joins Glenn Diesen to dismantle the illusion of diplomacy surrounding the Iran conflict. What’s being sold as negotiation, he argues, is little more than theater—designed to calm markets, not stop bombs.

Behind the headlines, a far more dangerous reality is taking shape: a coordinated buildup for what Macgregor describes as a potential “total war” scenario, one that moves beyond military targets and toward the destruction of an entire state’s infrastructure.

If he’s right, the question is no longer whether the war will escalate—but how far it will go, and how much of the world it will drag with it.

A cause for major concern—one that cannot be repeated enough—is this warning from Macgregor:
“There was no real path to an agreeable solution—because there was no real negotiation. When the vice president steps out mid-meeting to take a call from Netanyahu, it tells you everything. These aren’t negotiations. It suggests that Netanyahu—not Trump—is effectively calling the shots on whether we go to war.”

Highlights

  • “There were no real negotiations.”
    Macgregor argues the so-called peace talks were never genuine, describing them as political theater meant to project stability while preparing escalation.
  • Power behind the scenes:
    He suggests decision-making is not fully in Washington’s hands, pointing to Israeli influence shaping U.S. military direction.
  • From war to state destruction:
    The next phase, he warns, targets not just military assets—but bridges, power plants, oil infrastructure, and civilian systems—a shift toward dismantling Iran as a functioning state.
  • A global economic shockwave:
    Disruptions in the Persian Gulf could trigger fuel shortages, fertilizer collapse, and famine risks across the Global South.
  • The limits of U.S. power:
    Fighting thousands of miles from supply lines while Iran operates defensively at home creates what he calls a “home court advantage” that undermines U.S. strategy.
  • End of the old order:
    Macgregor frames the conflict as part of a larger collapse of U.S. dominance—warning that the petrodollar system and global unipolarity may already be breaking down.
  • No clear path to victory:
    Even with overwhelming force, he sees no realistic military outcome that delivers control—only deeper instability.

April 25, 2026 Posted by | Iran, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

We are one crisis away from a nuclear point of no return

As global stability erodes, the greatest danger now comes not from rogue states, but from stable nations driven to the brink by fear

David BlairChief Foreign Affairs Commentator

 Of all the branches of the United Nations, none has a higher calling than
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In the end, its job is to
preserve humanity from nuclear destruction and embody the survival instinct
of our species.

Yet the whole intricate system designed to prevent calamity
is crumbling before our eyes. Rafael Grossi, the director general of the
IAEA, describes in his Telegraph interview how “important countries in
Europe, in Asia minor and in the Far East” are publicly debating whether
to build nuclear weapons, despite having promised never to do so.

America and Russia have allowed all their nuclear disarmament treaties either to
collapse or expire without replacement. After invading Ukraine in 2022,
Vladimir Putin took another step towards the brink by suspending the
“strategic stability” arrangements with the US, under which the
world’s biggest nuclear powers had previously reassured one another by
sharing information about exercises and missile deployments.

One by one, the risk-reduction measures have fallen away, even as more countries
consider building nuclear arsenals. That leaves only one question: Have we
already passed the point of no return, or does humanity retain its survival
instinct?

 Telegraph 20th April 2026, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04/20/one-crisis-away-nuclear-point-no-return/

April 24, 2026 Posted by | weapons and war | Leave a comment

PATRICK LAWRENCE: Iran & Ukraine — Two Theaters in the Non–West’s Single War for Parity

At that gathering of European officials in Berlin Wednesday, immediate pledges of new weapons supplies came to $4.7 billion, and there is more, much more, coming as Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, mooches his way around the European capitals.

Are the Western powers aware of the magnitude of the moment? I do not see how this can be anything other than so. Setting aside the Zionists’ obsessions and the visceral hatred Ukraine’s neo–Nazi regime nurses toward Russia and Russians, these conflicts are, when viewed broadly, about the defense of Western hegemony in its declining years.

In Iran and Ukraine, what is at stake — what is fought for and against — is a rebalancing of power that will prove of world-historical magnitude when it is at last accomplished.‘

By Patrick Lawrence, Consortium News, April 18, 2026, https://consortiumnews.com/2026/04/18/patrick-lawrence-iran-ukraine-two-theaters-of-non-wests-single-war-for-parity/

First came news that, on April 8, Israeli jets bombed what is known as the China–Iran railway, a key component of Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative. Of all the targets the Zionist terror machine might have hit, why a Chinese-sponsored infrastructure project, you had to wonder.

Then on Wednesday came reports that officials from nearly 50 nations — I would love a list of these 50 — met in Berlin to make sure the fires of war against Russia do not flicker out. “We cannot lose sight of Ukraine,” Mark Rutte, NATO’s new secretary-general, declared a little forlornly. 

There are other reports such as these of late. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced Thursday that the Pentagon has authorized the Pacific Fleet to interdict ships in the Indian and Pacific oceans if they are deemed to be carrying Iranian oil to Asian ports or “material support” from Asia — read China — to the Islamic Republic. 

It is time for a stock-take.  


The war in Ukraine drones (literally) on and on, the West showing no inclination whatsoever to take the Russian position seriously. In West Asia we find a variant: The United States and the rabid dog that Bibi Netanyahu has made of Israel have no intention of considering the 10–point document wherein Iran states its conditions for ending a war it appears perfectly willing to continue waging.

What are we looking at? What animates these two confrontations such that to understand our moment we must see Ukraine and Iran as two theaters of a single war?

I do not care for self-referencing commentators, but an exception to my rule is the swiftest way to my reply to these questions. 

I have argued since the turn of the millennium that parity between the West and the non–West is the foundational imperative of the 21st century. Any given nation or bloc may favor or oppose this eventuality, but there will be no stopping the turn of history’s wheel: This was my take at the opening of the era that announced itself with the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

And it is the painful birth of this new time we witness as the wars in Europe and West Asia grind on. In each case what is at stake, what is fought for and against, is a rebalancing of power that will prove of world-historical magnitude when it is at last accomplished.

What have the Russians sought since Donald Trump began his second term and declared his intention to end the war in Ukraine and restore relations with Moscow to some kind of equilibrium?

It is the same thing Moscow hoped for at the Cold War’s end, and the same thing they proposed when, in December 2021, they sent draft treaties, one to Washington and one to NATO headquarters in Brussels, as the basis of negotiations for a comprehensive settlement between the Russian Federation and the West.

Moscow’s Push for Equal Standing 

Moscow has been clear on this point the whole of the post–Soviet era: It seeks a security architecture that takes cognizance of its interests and, so, recognizes Russia as an equal partner in its relations with the West.

President Putin and Sergei Lavrov, his able foreign minister, speak of the “root causes” of the war in Ukraine and insist these must be addressed if any kind of enduring settlement between East and West is to be achieved. This is merely another way of saying what the Russians have said for the past 30–odd years.  [See: Ukraine Timeline Tells the Tale]

Neither has the West’s reply been any different: It amounts to one long list of refusals, however directly, dishonestly or incompetently these have been conveyed.

Last November the Trump regime issued a 28–point peace plan that was not less than shocking when cast against the past three and some decades of history. It called for a nonaggression pact Russia, Europe and Ukraine were to negotiate and sign. “All ambiguities of the last 30 years will be considered settled,” it read in part. 

And further in this line:

“A dialogue will be held between Russia and NATO… to resolve all security issues and create conditions for de-escalation in order to ensure global security…” 

These 28 provisions proved too good to be true. The Americans who developed this document, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, the incompetent Trump insists must act as his “peace envoy,” simply did not know where the fence posts lie: While they almost certainly did not understand this, implicit in their 28 points was an East–West relationship based on parity. 

Out of the question, as was immediately evident. 

The Trump regime quickly abandoned its plan, despite its favorable reception in Moscow, and seems to have dropped all thought of “a deal” with Russia. The Europeans, freaked out at the very thought of a negotiated settlement, now resort to upside-down versions of reality I find it hard to believe they even try on. 

At that gathering of European officials in Berlin Wednesday, immediate pledges of new weapons supplies came to $4.7 billion, and there is more, much more, coming as Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, mooches his way around the European capitals.  

Boris Pistorius seems to have spoken for the group when the subject of peace talks arose. “The truth is, anyway, Russia has never taken them seriously,” the German defense minister declared. “This is why it is all the more important to support Ukraine.”

Russia has never taken negotiations seriously: Can you imagine how this kind of talk lands in Moscow? Can you imagine how low are the Russians’ expectations that the West will take their legitimate interests seriously until events on the battlefield force them to do so?

Tehran’s Conditions

The Iranians, it seems to me, are in a similar predicament. 

Read the text of the 10–point plan wherein Tehran advances its demands for ending the war with the United States and Israel. An end to U.S. and Israeli attacks is merely the Iranians’ opener. The withdrawal of all U.S. forces from the region, a nonaggression pact with the United States, recognition of Iran’s rights on the nuclear side, war reparations: To borrow from the Russians, this is a demand to address root causes, a demand for “a new security architecture,” a demand — returning to my principal point — for parity as a non–Western power.

There is a lot in the press these days about a return to negotiations after Vice–President J.D. Vance’s debacle in Islamabad last weekend. I have no trouble imagining the Iranians are eager to avoid more of the savage, indiscriminate bombing their civilian population suffered prior to the two-week ceasefire that went into effect April 8. But I do not think, at the horizon, they will abandon the 10 demands they have advanced any more than the Russian will abandon theirs.

Both nations appear to have concluded it is time to confront the West in the name of that 21st century imperative I noted earlier. Two reasons. One, Russia and Iran have both gathered strength as non–Western powers in recent years, forged in the heat of incessant confrontations. This, indeed, is what history’s wheel looks like as it turns.

Declining Coherence & Power

Two, it is not difficult to recognize the declining coherence and power — and so the creeping desperation — of the United States and its European allies.

Are the Western powers aware of the magnitude of the moment? I do not see how this can be anything other than so. Setting aside the Zionists’ obsessions and the visceral hatred Ukraine’s neo–Nazi regime nurses toward Russia and Russians, these conflicts are, when viewed broadly, about the defense of Western hegemony in its declining years.

This is how I read that attack on the China–Iran railway. O.K., the Israelis did the wet work, as they say, but the bombing of a significant Chinese asset was not without intent: It reflects the United States’ mounting anxiety as the non–West’s premier power advances an imaginative global agenda that has the policy cliques in Washington, now that they belatedly recognize its significance, quaking. 

Look at the map in this link. This rail line is key to China’s long-term plan to build efficient connections through southeastern Europe and on to the European capitals. To date, Beijing has reportedly spent 40 billion yuan, about $6 billion, on the project. This is part of the $400 billion investment agreement Beijing and Tehran signed in June 2020.

A little to my surprise, the Chinese have not reacted since the Israelis bombed their asset. There are several considerations at work here, but the most operative appears to be Beijing’s desire to assist in diplomatic mediations while presenting itself as a responsible world power in the face of the Trump regime’s serial insanities. 

China Daily ran an editorial cartoon in its Tuesday editions that sheds useful light on Beijing’s perspective. It shows Uncle Sam profligately scattering money and weapons as he bounds through a field marked “War, Hate, Chaos and Greed.” The headline at the top is “The U.S. Reaps What It Sows.”

It is a darkly humorous reminder that Beijing knows very well what the war against Iran is fundamentally about and what time it is on history’s clock. You can always count on the Chinese to take the long view.  

Patrick Lawrence, a correspondent abroad for many years, chiefly for the International Herald Tribune, is a columnist, essayist, lecturer and author, most recently of Journalists and Their Shadows, available from Clarity Press or via Amazon.  Other books include Time No Longer: Americans After the American Century. His Twitter account, @thefloutist, has been restored after years of being censored. 

April 24, 2026 Posted by | politics international, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Nuclear weapons may be the sane choice for the world’s maddest regime

For North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, the lesson from Iran shows that if your
goal is survival the more dangerous the arsenal the better.

 Times 19th April 2026, https://www.thetimes.com/world/asia/article/kim-north-korea-nuclear-trump-iran-6s7gjkqns

April 23, 2026 Posted by | North Korea, weapons and war | Leave a comment

THE US HAS NO ROUTE TO VICTORY IN IRAN WHICH WILL LIKELY EMERGE STRONGER

THIS ADVENTURE MAY DO TO AMERICAN COLONIALISM WHAT SUEZ DID TO THE BRITISH AND THE FRENCH

Ian Proud, Apr 19, 2026, https://thepeacemonger.substack.com/p/the-us-has-no-route-to-victory-in?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=3221990&post_id=194637482&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

I was pleased to meet Laith Marouf, a War Correspondent and Executive Director of Free Palestine TV for the first time.



As Laith is based in Lebanon, we discussed the recently announced 10 day ceasefire with Israel, and whether it might endure. This ceasefire had clearly been imposed on Netanyahu by Trump, but what was the prevent Israel from returning to position normal after any putative peace deal over Iran? Laith laid out the historical and religious reasons why Iran would never abandon Lebanon purely to obtain a peace deal with the USA. Other people I have spoken to talk about the muti-confessional nature of Lebanon but that, come what may, Hezbollah remains a powerful force in politics, that won’t be eradicated by air strikes.

So, Israeli conquest of Lebanon will likely never be possible for as long as Iran remains a powerful force in the region.

We therefore discussed the US and Israel’s inability to inflict a defeat on Iran. There is no evidence that the US has the capability or the political capital at home to endure an extended military engagement with a country, thousands of miles from the US, geographically and by population size far bigger than any adversary confronted in the twenty first century, and with the support of the two big regional military and economic powers, Russia and China.

The only way that the US can impose a defeat on Iran is to precipitate regime change and despite Trump’s ramblings about regime change equating to a change of leader (sic!) the proposition that a modern-day Shah can be returned to the throne in Tehran have never looked possible or remotely likely.

That leaves the US militarily stuck in a conflict that is causing global economic shocks that are mobilising both the developing world and parts of the western world against American hegemony. Iran may be to US colonialism what Suez was to the British and French.

Laith situated this latest war in the context of what he describes as the 100 years of humiliation for the Muslim world.

Iran differs from the Arab world in having civilisational integrity and history that will endure this latest attempt at subjugation by western powers. War in the other hand is putting significant pressure on the smaller more fragmented governments across the Arab world which are reliant for survival on the umbrella of US hegemony which is collapsing.

We briefly considered the risk of nuclear escalation in Iran and the likelihood that this, ultimately, would backfire spectacularly on the west with a potentially enormous flood of refugees heading west, not to mention the intense ecological damage and the impact that would have on the global economy. Lots of people pontificate about Israel using tactical nukes, which, while I consider Netanyahu desperate to cling to power, I consider unlikely if only because it would likely sever the hitherto ironclad relationship with the US and lead to more immediate and existential risks to the functioning and integrity of Israel as a state.

We discussed Israel’s nuclear capability and how it can coexist in a more peaceable way with other countries in the region. Laith drew on the example of Apartheid South Africa which was also nuclear armed but which gave up its nuclear programme and completely shifted its model of governance to abandon the rule of white supremacists.

In the completely hypothetical scenario of Israel doing the same – which looks wholly unlikely anytime soon – I asked about the position of Jewish people in Israel under theoretical Palestinian rule. We considered the outlier role of the Jewish community in Iran which is the only major subset of Judaism that isn’t hardwired into the ecosystem of Zionism as a potential model.

In the final analysis, whenever the war against Iran ends, however it ends, Iran appears likely to emerge in a stronger position as a regional superpower than it held before the war started, indeed, before Donald Trump abandoned the JCPOA deal. US power and influence, on the other hand, continues to shatter, ushering in a multipolar world with greater clarity.

A genuinely thought-provoking discussion which I’d encourage you to watch via the link above. I had a microphone problem so my audio is terrible, though still audible.

April 22, 2026 Posted by | Iran, weapons and war | Leave a comment

America’s pro-Israel J Street says Israel should pay out-of-pocket if it wants US weapons

The pro-Israel advocacy group likely changed its tune after widespread popular opposition to taxpayer-funded weapons

By MEE staff, 13 April 2026 , https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/j-street-says-israel-should-pay-out-pocket-if-it-wants-us-weapons

The pro-Israel advocacy group J Street is now calling for an end to “direct” US military support to Israel, per a new policy document published on Monday. 

The group had previously backed Washington’s continued provision of defensive weapons systems, such as the replenishment of Israel’s Iron Dome, at no cost to Israelis. 

Now, it says the US “should continue to sell” short-range air and ballistic missile defence capabilities to Israel, but Israel should use its own money to pay for them. 

“Israel faces real security challenges that require a significant defense investment. With a per capita GDP comparable to leading US allies such as the United Kingdom, France and Japan, as well as an annual defense budget of over $45 billion, it has the financial means to address these challenges,” J Street said. 

“It does not require almost $4 billion per year in US financial subsidies to purchase weapons,” it added.

“Continuing this assistance is both unnecessary and politically counterproductive, creating avoidable tensions in US domestic politics and in the bilateral relationship.”

The way the current military aid package operates is that the US provides Israel with American taxpayer funds, and those funds are put into US weapons companies to acquire equipment. 

On its website, J Street says that it “organizes pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy Americans to promote US policies that embody our deeply held Jewish and democratic values and that help secure the State of Israel as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people”. 

Political tide turns

J Street’s shift follows a distinct change in attitudes towards Israel among the American public after the genocide in Gaza, where over 72,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel’s war on the enclave broke out in October 2023. 

But perhaps more importantly for the group, whose support base is made up of Democrats, the party’s future is changing course.

Progressive New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is widely believed to be seeking higher office, announced earlier this month that she would no longer vote for any US military support to Israel, despite having previously backed the provision of defensive weapons, much to the disappointment of many of her supporters. 

It is notable, however, that her statement followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s surprise declaration earlier this year that Israel will not seek to renew its military aid package with the US in 2028.

“I want to taper off the military aid within the next 10 years,” all the way down to zero, Netanyahu told The Economist in January. 

J Street’s new position demands that any future US arms sales that Israel pays for out-of-pocket “be fully consistent with American law”, which echoed Ocasio-Cortez’s statement.

US law prohibits security assistance to any country whose government engages in a consistent pattern of gross human rights violations or blocks or restricts the transport or delivery of US-backed humanitarian aid.

“US arms sales to Israel should be further conditioned to incentivize alignment with American interests and laws – as has been the case with other allies and partners – when their behavior is inconsistent with US interests,” J Street said. 

At the same time, the group acknowledges that Washington and Israel generally share the same interests anyway.

“The US also benefits meaningfully from the relationship. Intelligence sharing has been critical in campaigns such as the fight against ISIS, while joint operations such as Israel’s 2006 strike on Syria’s secret nuclear facility have advanced shared security goals.”

It added that because “approximately 500,000 American citizens live in Israel”, selling it weapons should continue to be a US national security priority. 

April 22, 2026 Posted by | Israel, weapons and war | Leave a comment

With 38,000+ Dead, Women and Girls Make Up Over Half of Those Killed in Israel’s US-Backed War on Gaza: UN

“Not a single combatant among them,” said one human rights activist. “Further confirmation that over 90% of the victims are innocent civilians.”

Brad Reed for Common Dreams, Apr 17, 2026 https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-gaza-war-women

Israel’s yearslong assault on Gaza has killed more than 38,000 women and girls, according to a report released Friday by the United Nations.

In total, the UN found that at least 22,000 women and 16,000 girls have been killed in the conflict, an average of nearly 50 women and girls per day.

Sofia Calltorp, chief of humanitarian action at UN Women, said the report shows how Israel’s war on Gaza “has affected every aspect of life, with its most horrific toll seen in the scale of death.”

“Women and girls accounted for a proportion of deaths far higher than those observed in previous conflicts in Gaza,” Calltorp emphasized. “Those killed were mothers, they were daughters, sisters, and friends—deeply loved by those around them. They were individuals with lives and with dreams.”

More than 72,000 people in total have been killed since Israel launched its attack on Gaza in October 2023, after Hamas invaded Israeli territory and killed approximately 1,200 Israelis. Experts warn that the current known death toll is likely an undercount.

While Palestinian women and girls represent more than half of those who have been killed, according to the report, Israeli and US officials have persisted in claiming the US-backed assault has targeted Hamas fighters.

“Not a single combatant among them,” said Ramy Abdul, chairman of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor. “Further confirmation that over 90% of the victims are innocent civilians.”

Although a ceasefire has been in place since October 2025, the report notes that an estimated 730 Gaza residents have been killed over the last six months. Additionally, the report says the humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire.

“Nearly one million women and girls have been displaced, repeatedly,” said Calltorp. “Access to water and food have been severely limited, with nearly 790,000 women and girls experiencing crisis-level or catastrophic levels of food insecurity. Extensive damage to infrastructure has made it almost impossible for women and girls in Gaza to access their basic needs, like healthcare.”

Calltorp demanded that the ceasefire deal “be fully implemented,” and that “respect for international law must be upheld” to ease the suffering in Gaza.

“Humanitarian assistance must reach those in need—at scale and without obstruction,” Calltorp said. “And women and girls must be placed at the center of response and recovery efforts.”

In addition to causing a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, Israel in recent weeks has also been waging an aerial bombing and ground invasion in Lebanon that has killed thousands of people and displaced more than 1 million. US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that Israel and Lebanon came to a ceasefire agreement that is set to last for 10 days.

At the same time, Israeli settlers have been waging a campaign of increased violence against Palestinians living in the West Bank, and veteran Israeli war correspondent Ron Ben-Yishai on Thursday declared that the actions of the settlers look like “ethnic cleansing.”

April 22, 2026 Posted by | Atrocities, Gaza, Israel | Leave a comment

Trump warns Iran of ‘nuclear holocaust’ hours after bragging about peace.

President Donald Trump warned Iran of a potential ‘nuclear holocaust’ while announcing a 10-day ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon, claiming credit for brokering the peace deal.

Jeremiah Hassel Senior U.S. News Reporter and Callum Hoare, 16 Apr 2026, https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/trump-warns-iran-nuclear-holocaust-37029877

President Donald Trump has warned Iran of a “nuclear holocaust” unless it reaches an agreement with the US, just hours after bragging about peace.

Speaking to journalists before boarding Marine One heading to Las Vegas, the President claimed the US is “very close to making a deal with Iran” before outlining what he described as the benefits of such an arrangement.

Speaking to journalists before boarding Marine One heading to Las Vegas, the President claimed the US is “very close to making a deal with Iran” before outlining what he described as the benefits of such an arrangement.

“If that happens, oil goes way down, prices go way down, inflation goes way down, and much more importantly, you won’t have a nuclear holocaust,” Trump stated.

Israel and Lebanon have reportedly struck a ceasefire deal following weeks of reciprocal strikes and an Israeli bombing campaign that has claimed the lives of over 2,100 people in the Middle Eastern nation that shares a northern border with Israel.

Trump revealed the exact time the 10-day ceasefire would take effect, sharing a message hours earlier on Truth Social and taking credit for brokering the agreement.

“I just had excellent conversations with the Highly Respected President Joseph Aoun, of Lebanon, and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel,” Trump wrote. “These two Leaders have agreed that in order to achieve PEACE between their Countries, they will formally begin a 10 Day CEASEFIRE at 5 P.M. EST.

“On Tuesday, the two Countries met for the first time in 34 years here in Washington, D.C., with our Great Secretary of State, Marco Rubio,” he continued. “I have directed Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Rubio, together with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Razin’ Caine, to work with Israel and Lebanon to achieve a Lasting PEACE.

“It has been my Honor to solve 9 Wars across the World, and this will be my 10th, so let’s, GET IT DONE! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” he added.

A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon could have significant implications for any potential peace settlement between the US and Iran. Tehran made it clear during the initial, unsuccessful peace negotiations between the US and Iran in Pakistan that a ceasefire in Lebanon was a fundamental requirement, without which Iran would refuse any American demands.

Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, told his Lebanese counterpart, Nabih Berri, that Tehran is advocating for a permanent ceasefire “in all conflict zones.” He added that a ceasefire in Lebanon is “just as important” as in Iran.

Trump invites leaders of Israel, Lebanon to the White House for direct peace talks Trump issued invitations to the leaders of both Israel and Lebanon to participate in direct peace talks at the White House, sharing an additional message on his Truth Social platform. “In addition to the statement just issued, I will be inviting the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, and the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun, to the White House for the first meaningful talks between Israel and Lebanon since 1983, a very long time ago,” he posted. “Both sides want to see PEACE, and I believe that will happen, quickly! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

Nevertheless, the last substantial negotiations between the two countries were in fact conducted in 1993, not 1983 as Trump claimed. It remains uncertain whether this was a typing mistake or an intentional reference to the period of Ronald Reagan’s presidency.

Aoun declines direct discussions with Netanyahu

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun rejected direct engagement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday. The alleged comments were delivered during a phone conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with Aoun asserting that Washington “understands Lebanon’s position.”

Aoun’s office verified that a conversation with Rubio had occurred, yet made no reference to any prospective talks with Netanyahu. Netanyahu’s office likewise stayed quiet on the issue. Lebanon and Israel held their first direct diplomatic talks in decades on Tuesday in Washington, following more than a month of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. Lebanon has insisted that a ceasefire must be in place to stop the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah before any direct negotiations can get under way, while pledging to commit to disarming the group. Washington has yet to publicly announce its support for a ceasefire as a prerequisite, while the Israeli government has characterised the talks as peace negotiations centred on the disarmament of Hezbollah.

Israel and Hezbollah continued to exchange fire across the border, with Hezbollah firing rockets and drones at towns in northern Israel. Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon intensified, particularly around the cities of Tyre, Nabatieh and the strategically significant town of Bint Jbeil, situated close to the Israeli border.

Israel and Lebanon have technically remained at war since Israel’s establishment in 1948, with Lebanon remaining deeply split over any form of diplomatic engagement with Israel.

Israeli forces have pushed further into southern Lebanon in an effort to establish what officials have described as a “security zone,” which Netanyahu has stated will extend at least 5 to 6 miles into Lebanese territory.

April 21, 2026 Posted by | USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

Horror as Russia ‘plans nuclear weapon in space’ that could cause global chaos

Gen Whiting believes the next major global conflict will “likely be a war that starts in space”. He said rival nations have watched how heavily the US and its allies rely on satellites and space technology for modern warfare

General Stephen Whiting, head of US Space Command, said America was ‘very concerned’ about Russian plans to put a nuclear weapon in space that would target satellites

 Tim Hanlon News Reporter and Catherine Mackinlay, 16 Apr 2026

Russia is feared to be planning to put a nuclear weapon in space that is capable of sparking global chaos by targeting satellites.

A United States military chief has warned Moscow is considering using a nuclear anti-satellite weapon which could destroy thousands of satellites and cause communications disruption across the world, dubbing it a “Space Pearl Harbor”.

General Stephen Whiting, head of US Space Command, said America was “very concerned” about the Kremlin’s plans, which he said form part of a wider pattern of Russian aggression in space since the war in Ukraine began.

The four-star general warned Russia has already been carrying out “sustained satellite communication and GPS jamming” on such a scale that it is “putting civilian airliners at risk”.

Speaking on The Times podcast The General & The Journalist, Gen Whiting said: “Russia remains a sophisticated space power and they continue to invest in counter-space weapons. They are thinking about placing in orbit a nuclear anti-satellite weapon that would hold at risk everyone’s satellites in low Earth orbit, and that would be an outcome that we just couldn’t tolerate.”

He said Russia sees the US and NATO as too strong in conventional warfare and believes attacking space systems could “level the battlefield”.

Gen Whiting said: “From a Russian perspective, they look at the United States, they look at NATO and they see an overmatch there of conventional arms.

“And they believe that novel ways of trying to undermine the United States and NATO, such as by neutralising our space capabilities, helps them to level the battlefield. I won’t speak about our intelligence sources and methods, but obviously it’s a report that we’re very concerned about.”

A nuclear weapon in orbit would be a major breach of the Outer Space Treaty, which Russia has signed. The warning is the strongest public intervention yet from a senior US military officer on the threat posed by Moscow.

Russia’s alleged ambitions first emerged in February 2024 when Pentagon officials briefed members of Congress behind closed doors. Since then, the US House intelligence committee has been pressing the White House to declassify information about the project so politicians can discuss the scale of the threat.

Experts fear a nuclear blast in low Earth orbit could destroy up to 10,000 satellites – around 80% of all those currently in space. Military intelligence, communications, internet, mobile phone services and GPS could all be crippled.

Gen Whiting also warned Russia’s GPS jamming is already affecting civilian flights across eastern and southern Europe. He said: “When we put at risk civilian airliners full of citizens just trying to go on business or holiday, that’s incredibly problematic.”

He said both Russia and China are rapidly building space weapons, with Beijing developing jammers, directed energy weapons and anti-satellite rockets. The general urged Sir Keir Starmer’s government to spend far more on Britain’s space defences, with the UK spending less than 1% of its defence budget on space, compared with 4% in Germany and 3% in France.

Gen Whiting believes the next major global conflict will “likely be a war that starts in space”. He said rival nations have watched how heavily the US and its allies rely on satellites and space technology for modern warfare.

Despite the growing space arms race, he insisted a conflict in orbit is “not inevitable”. He added: “Our goal each and every day is to wake up and deter that from happening so that mankind can continue to take advantage of all the benefits of space.”

April 21, 2026 Posted by | Russia, weapons and war | Leave a comment

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