Expulsion and Occupation: Israel’s Proposed Gaza Plan
May 7, 2025 Dr Binoy Kampmark, https://theaimn.net/expulsion-and-occupation-israels-proposed-gaza-plan/
Killing civilians wholesale, starving them to convince those unaffected to change course, and shepherding whole populations like livestock into conditions of further misery would all qualify as heinous crimes in international law. When it comes to Israel’s war in Gaza, this approach is seen as necessary politics, unalloyed by the restraints of humanitarianism. When confronted with these harsh realities on the ground, unequivocal denials follow: This is not happening in Gaza; no one is starving. And if that were the case, blame those misguided savages in Hamas.
As the conflict chugs along in pools of blood and bountiful gore, the confused shape of Israel’s intentions continues in all its glorious nebulousness. Pretend moderation clouds murderous desire. There is no sense that those unfortunate Israeli hostages captured by Hamas in its assault on October 7, 2023 matter anymore, being merely decorative for the imminent slaughter. There is even less sense that Hamas will be cleansed and removed from the strip, however attractive this idea continues to be.
Such evident limits have not discouraged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet, who have decided that more force, that old province of the unimaginative, is the answer. According to the PM, the cabinet had agreed on a “forceful operation” to eliminate Hamas and salvage what is left of the hostage situation.
A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, Brigadier-General Effie Defrin, has explained on Israeli radio that the offensive will apparently ensure the return of the hostages. What follows will be “the collapse of the Hamas regime, its defeat, its submission.” Anywhere up to two million Palestinian civilians in Gaza will be herded into the ruins of the south. Humanitarian aid will be arranged by the Israeli forces, to be possibly distributed through approved contractors.
The IDF chief of staff, Lt. General Eyal Zamier, confirmed that the approved plan will involve “the capture of the Strip and holding the territories, moving the Gazan population south for its defence, denying Hamas and the ability to distribute humanitarian supplies, and powerful attacks against Hamas.”
Within the Israeli cabinet, ethnocentric and religious fires burn with bright fanaticism. The Israeli Finance Finister Bezalel Smotrich remains a figure who ignores floral subtlety in favour of the blood-stained sledgehammer. He remains that coherent link between cruel lawmaking and baffling violence. “Within a few months,” he boasts, “we will be able to declare that we have won. Gaza will be totally destroyed.” With pompous certitude, he also claimed that the next six months would see Hamas cease to exist.
Such opinions, expressed at the “Settlements Conference” organised by the Makor Rishon newspaper in Ofra, a West Bank settlement, gives a sense of the flavour. Palestinians are to be “concentrated” on land located between the Egyptian border and the arbitrarily designated Morag Corridor. As with any potential abuser keen to violate his vulnerable charges while justifying it, Smotrich tried to impress with the idea that this was a “humanitarian” zone that would be free of “Hamas and terrorism.”
The program here is clear in its chilling crudeness. Expulsion, relocation, transfer. These are the words famously used to move on populations of sizeable number in history, often at enormous cost. That this should involve lawmakers of the Jewish state adds a stunning, if perverse poignancy to this. They, the moved on in history, the expelled and the condemned wanderers, shall expel others and condemn them in turn. Smotrich also points the finger to desperation and hopelessness, the biting incentives that propel migration. The Palestinians will feel blessed in their banishment. “They will be totally despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza, and will be looking for relocation to begin a new life in other places.”
Impossible to ignore in Smotrich’s steaming bile against the Palestinians is the broader view that no Palestinian state can arise, necessitating urgent, preventative poisoning. In addition to the eventual depopulation of Gaza, plans to reconstitute the contours of the West Bank, ensuring that Israeli and Palestinian traffic are separated to enable building and construction for settlements as a prelude to annexation, are to be implemented.
The issue of twisting and mangling humanitarian aid in favour of Israel’s territorial lust has raised some tart commentary. A statement from the Humanitarian Country Team of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, a forum led by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), does not shy away from the realities on the ground. All supplies, including those vital to survival, have been blocked for nine weeks. Bakeries and community kitchens have closed, while warehouses are empty. Hunger, notably among children, is rampant. Israel’s plan, as presented, “will mean that large parts of Gaza, including the less mobile and most vulnerable people, will continue to go without supplies.”
The UN Secretary General and the Emergency Relief Coordinator have confirmed that they will not cooperate in the scheme, seeing that it “does not adhere to the global humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality.”
The same point has been made by the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Despite all being solid allies of Israel, they have warned that violations of international law are taking place. “Humanitarian aid must never be used as a political tool and a Palestinian territory must not be reduced nor subjected to any demographic change.”
To date, a promise lingers that the offensive will only commence once US President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar takes place. But no ongoing savaging of Gaza with some crude effort at occupation will solve the historical vortex that continues to drag the Jewish state risk and oblivion.
Starmer prepares for attack by Russia
Officials asked to update 20-year-old contingency plans that would put UK on war footing after Kremlin threats
Tony Diver,Associate Political Editor, 05 May 2025
Britain is secretly preparing for a direct military attack by Russia amid fears that it is not ready for war…
Officials have been asked to update
20-year-old contingency plans that would put the country on a war footing
after threats of attack by the Kremlin. A classified dossier will set out
how the Government would respond to a declaration of war, including bunkers
to protect the Cabinet and the Royal family, public service broadcasts and
the stockpiling of resources. Experts have warned that the country is
vulnerable to an assault on its critical national infrastructure, including
gas terminals, undersea cables, nuclear power plants and transport hubs.
Telegraph 5th May 2025,
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/05/05/starmer-prepares-for-attack-by-russia/
As Israelis Blockade Food to Gaza, 9,000 Children have been Admitted for Acute Malnutrition.
Juan Cole, 05/04/2025, https://www.juancole.com/2025/05/israelis-blockade-malnutrition.html
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said Friday that “malnutrition is … on the rise. More than 9,000 children have been admitted for treatment of acute malnutrition since the beginning of the year.”
At least 10 NGO aid kitchens have closed in recent weeks for lack of food, and 25 UN bakeries haven’t been operational for a month. The Israeli military has for two months been committing a war crime in preventing shipments of food from entering Gaza.
Meanwhile, a medical source in Gaza told the Anadolu Agency that on Saturday, a child “died from malnutrition and dehydration at Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital in Gaza City.” Gaza medical authorities have documented 57 deaths from malnutrition in Gaza during the current conflict.
UNICEF says that over 75% of households in Gaza have reported declining access to water. Russell explained that many families with children have to choose between drinking, bathing and cooking.
Because of the lack of clean water, Russell explained, “acute watery diarrhea … now accounts for 1 in every 4 cases of disease recorded in Gaza. Most of these cases are among children under five, for whom it is life-threatening.”
UNICEF’s Russell said, “For two months, children in the Gaza Strip have faced relentless bombardments while being deprived of essential goods, services and lifesaving care. With each passing day of the aid blockade, they face the growing risk of starvation, illness and death – nothing can justify this.”
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in its weekly report on Gaza on Wednesday that “On 25 April, the World Food Programme (WPF) reported that its food stocks in Gaza have been depleted, as the agency delivered its last remaining supplies to kitchens preparing hot meals. WFP additionally highlighted the impact of deteriorating nutrition on vulnerable groups, including children under five, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and the elderly, warning that the situation has again reached ‘a breaking point.’”
OCHA added that “between 18 March and 27 April, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) recorded 259 attacks on residential buildings and 99 on IDP tents. Most of the attacks resulted in fatalities, including of women and children. Among the strikes on IDP tents, 40 reportedly took place in Al Mawasi area, in Khan Younis, where the Israeli army repeatedly directed civilians to seek refuge.”
Over 400 Palestinians seem to be being killed each week by Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, the vast majority women and children. Thousands have been wounded in the two months since the government of Benjamin Netanyahu breached the January ceasefire.
OCHA writes, “On 27 April, at about 20:10, 13 Palestinians, including a woman and her six children, were reportedly killed and others injured when a residential building was hit in southern Khan Younis. On 28 April, at about 00:30, 10 Palestinians, including at least three children, were reportedly killed and others, including a seven-year-old girl, were injured when a residential building was hit in Al Fakhoura area, west of Jabalya refugee camp, in North Gaza. On 28 April, at about 00:30, 10 Palestinians were reportedly killed and others injured when a residential building was hit in Al Karmah area in northwestern Gaza city.”
Israeli forces have been firing on Palestinian fishing boats, as fishermen desperately attempt to bring in some protein for their families.
Nuclear threat is more real than at any time since second World War
Worldview: Nuclear non-proliferation is moving rapidly backwards. Frank Aiken’s vision and diplomacy are once more desperately needed.
Irish Times, Patrick Smyth, Sat May 03 2025
Last Monday night, the UN Security Council held a private meeting on nuclear non-proliferation. The French presidency warned that efforts to limit the spread of nuclear weapons are “facing increasingly serious challenges”
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) obliges nuclear states not to transfer nuclear weapons to other states, and commits others to not acquiring them. It is arguably Ireland’s most important diplomatic achievement, coming into force 55 years ago after a four-year campaign by late former tánaiste Frank Aiken and the passing of his “Irish resolution”.
Only five states – the US, the Soviet Union, China, Britain and France – were recognised then as having nuclear weapons. Four more – India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea – have since acquired the bomb. Others are lining up.
Aiken saw non-proliferation as an essential complement to the stalled disarmament process – as he put it in a speech to the UN, “to preserve a Pax Atomica while we build a Pax Mundi”. The NPT, he argued, would bridge the gap between states opposed to nuclear weapons and those who saw them as essential to deterrence, including Nato members.
His advocacy of annual “non-dissemination” resolutions, UCC academic Morgan O’Driscoll writes, was inspired by a pragmatic belief that incremental, concrete steps would ease international tensions. Stopping the spread of nukes could help to prevent a runaway arms race……………..
The preoccupations evident at the recent UN meeting were the “ongoing proliferation crises” over North Korea, whose nuclear weapons programme, UN inspectors say, has grown “exponentially”, and Iran, which is in talks with the US on restoring the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action treaty (JCPOA) restricting its nuclear programme, which US president Donald Trump scuppered at the end of his first term.
Notwithstanding these concerns, there is a broader context to the discussion – a growing fear that multilaterally driven disarmament, specifically non-proliferation, is moving rapidly backwards, dangerously undoing decades of important, albeit slow, progress. Trump has a lot to do with it.
“The Trump phenomenon,” says Ankit Panda, author of The New Nuclear Age, “has provided a powerful accelerant for voices in US-allied states who now see nuclear weapons in their own hands as fundamentally solving the problem posed by American unreliability.”
Trust in allies’ promises has been the key cornerstone of the acceptance of non-proliferation commitments
……………………..The promises of mutual support underpinning the constraints of the NPT on acquiring nuclear weapons are seen increasingly as inadequate. Now, states want their own.
Germany and Poland are publicly talking of needing nuclear options, at least by sharing French or UK nuclear deterrents. Support is growing in South Korea, and the long-taboo debate is surfacing even in Japan. In the Middle East, Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have signalled they would want to match Iranian capabilities if Tehran obtained a bomb.
After the Cuban missile crisis, Washington assured European and Asian allies that they could rely on the US for their nuclear security. Only after they were convinced of the credibility of guarantees did Germany and Japan forego a national nuclear option to join the new NPT.
French determination in the 1960s to build its own nuclear deterrence, against the wishes of Washington, was born out of Charles de Gaulle’s conviction that Washington‘s promises were unreliable. Would the US really risk a nuclear attack on Washington if Paris was hit?
And China, in a similar calculation regarding Moscow, followed suit after its split with the USSR in the 1960s.
Trump’s unwillingness to unequivocally endorse Nato‘s Article 5 mutual defence pledge has profoundly undermined trust at the core of the alliance, just as his reluctance to do the same in respect of Ukraine has led Kyiv to discuss nuclear rearmament.
Ukraine, Poland and South Korea are all believed to possess the technology to build nuclear weapons. Japan, the only state to have suffered a nuclear attack, and whose population remains deeply opposed to nuclear weapons, was an early signatory to the NPT, but as North Korea became a nuclear power, and China more militarily assertive, what was seen as impossible is being discussed.
Aiken‘s vision and passionate diplomacy are once more desperately needed to save the NPT and the parlous multilateral disarmament process from its continuing downward spiral. That should be the central focus of Ireland’s diplomacy. https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025/05/03/threat-of-a-nuclear-exchange-is-more-real-than-at-any-time-since-second-world-war/
Shut down Elbit Systems everywhere!
Bruce K. Gagnon, Organizing Notes, May 03, 2025
Elbit Systems is an Israeli military corporation making weapons for its current multiple wars as the zionists attempt to build ‘Greater Israel’ and take over the region from indigenous populations.
They are the world’s leading terrorists.
Elbit builds weapon production plants in nations around the globe in order to ‘buy support’ for its colonizing agenda.
Check around and you will likely find one near your community.
Congrats to the movement in Boston for forcing MIT, thru organizing pressure, to cut links with Elbit. Activists in the UK have shut down a couple Elbit facilities and forced some of their other corporate links to be severed such as with insurance companies and the like.
The Elbit facility in nearby Merrimack, New Hampshire has also drawn important protests in recent years. I was involved in one where I got arrested for serving as the police liaison. ……………………………………… https://space4peace.blogspot.com/2025/05/shut-down-elbit-systems-everywhere.html?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Need to use nuclear weapons has not arisen in Ukraine, says Putin
Russian leader says he hopes nuclear strikes ‘will not be required’ in state TV film about his 25 years in power.
Angelique Chrisafis and agencies, 5 May 25, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/04/need-to-use-use-nuclear-weapons-has-not-arisen-in-ukraine-says-putin
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said in comments broadcast on Sunday said that the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine had not arisen, and that he hoped it would not.
Speaking in a film by Russian state television about his 25 years in power, Putin said that Russia has the strength and the means to bring the conflict in Ukraine to what he called a “logical conclusion”.
Responding to a question from a state television reporter about Ukrainian strikes on Russia, Putin said: “There has been no need to use those [nuclear] weapons … and I hope they will not be required.”
Fear of nuclear escalation has been a factor in US officials’ thinking since Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022. The former CIA director William Burns has said there was a real risk in late 2022 that Russia could use nuclear weapons against Ukraine.
In autumn 2022, the US was so concerned about the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons by Russia that it warned Putin over the consequences of using such weapons, Burns has said. At the same time, the Chinese leader Xi Jinping also warned Putin not to resort to nuclear weapons.
Putin signed a revamped version of Russia’s nuclear doctrine in November 2024, spelling out the circumstances that allow him to use Moscow’s atomic arsenal, the world’s largest. That version lowered the bar, giving him the option of using nuclear weapons in response to even a conventional attack backed by a nuclear power.
The US president, Donald Trump, has said he wants to end the conflict via diplomatic means, raising the question of whether Putin was willing to negotiate a peace settlement. But the Kremlin has rejected calls by Kyiv and Washington for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire.
Putin, in February 2022, ordered tens of thousands of Russian troops to invade Ukraine. Moscow’s forces now control about 20% of Ukraine, including parts of the south and east.
In the carefully choreographed state television film, Putin was shown in his private Kremlin kitchen offering chocolates and a fermented Russian milk drink to the Kremlin correspondent, Pavel Zarubin.
Putin, a former KGB lieutenant colonel who was handed the presidency on the last day of 1999 by an ailing Boris Yeltsin, is the longest serving Kremlin leader since Joseph Stalin, who ruled for 29 years until his death in 1953.
How bloody conflict 4,000 miles away could spark nuclear Armageddon killing billions
The “Army of the Righteous” terror group has been accused of slaughtering 22 Indian tourists holidaying in the Baisaran valley – which is pushing India and Pakistan to the brink of conflict
12:23, 02 May 2025, Ryan Fahey News Reporter, https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/how-bloody-conflict-4000-miles-35158973
While the West is focused on how close Vladimir Putin is to pushing the red button, the real threat of Armageddon could be brewing in South Asia.
In April, suspected Islamist Pakistani militants shot dead 22 Indian tourists holidaying in the Baisaran valley, which is now pushing India and Pakistan – both nuclear-armed countries – to the brink of a nuclear confrontation. The gunmen are said to have prowled through the group of tourists, picking off any individual unable to recite Islamic verses. It’s being viewed by Indians as the worst massacre since the 2008 Mumbai bombings.
India’s security services are also being blamed for failing to realise the looming threat as the public outcry for retribution continues to grow. Indian national identity and foreign policy expert Dr Manali Kumar said the relations between the two countries are at a critically low point and “just short of war”. However, any overt acts of war would see a swift response from Pakistan, which would likely push the two sides into an escalating conflict that would be impossible to reverse once started.
India has an active army of 1.2million, with an additional 250,000 individuals split between the navy and air force, while Pakistan has less than 700,000 – but experts believe the two sides are far more evenly matched than it would seem.
Defence experts say that Pakistan could still “inflict significant damage and cause massive casualties”, according to the MailOnline.
Where the most concerning comparison comes is when looking at the nuclear arsenals of each country. Both Pakistan and India are understood to have around 170 warheads heads each, according to the Arms Control Association. While India has agreed to a “no first use” nuclear pact”, Pakistan does not adhere to the same moral restriction.
And if the apocalypse did happen in South Asia, 125 million people would be dead in a matter of days, researchers warned back in 2019.
India has accused Pakistani nationals – said to be members of the same “Army of the Righteous” terror group responsible for Mumbai – of carrying out the April 22 killing spree. Pakistan has denied involvement, and has already warned it would respond to any military aggression on the basis of “baseless and concocted allegations”.
The reason India has conflated the Pakistani government with the terror group is that they are said to have links to Pakistan’s Inter-Services-Intelligence (ISI) agency.
In the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists in 2019, researchers said that there would be “tens of millions” of immediate victims if a nuke was launched in South Asia. It would have devastating environmental impacts, causing famines that could affect billions of people across the world.
“The direct effects of this nuclear exchange would be horrible; the authors estimate that 50 to 125 million people would die, depending on whether the weapons used had yields of 15, 50, or 100 kilotons,” the article read.
“The ramifications for Indian and Pakistani society would be major and long-lasting, with many major cities largely destroyed and uninhabitable.
“Smoke and radioactive particles would ‘spread globally within weeks… cooling the global surface, reducing precipitation and threatening mass starvation.”
Israel Bombs Humanitarian Aid Flotilla on Way to Gaza
A similar aid convoy was attacked by Tel Aviv in 2010, killing 10 people and injuring dozens more.
by Will Porter May 2, 2025 , https://news.antiwar.com/2025/05/02/israel-bombs-humanitarian-aid-flotilla-on-way-to-gaza/
A ship carrying supplies bound for the Gaza Strip was attacked by Israeli drones in international waters on Friday, according to the activist group that organized the flotilla. The vessel reportedly took at least one direct hit to its hull and sustained damage from fire, forcing its crew to issue an urgent call for help.
Organizers with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) said one of their vessels was attacked by an unidentified drone in the early hours of Friday morning, noting the ship was not far off the coast of Malta when it was hit.
“At 00:23 Maltese time, the Conscience, a Freedom Flotilla Coalition ship, came under direct attack in international waters,” the group said in a press release. “Armed drones attacked the front of an unarmed civilian vessel twice, causing a fire and a substantial breach in the hull. [. . .] The drone strike appears to have deliberately targeted the ship’s generator, leaving the crew without power and placing the vessel at great risk of sinking.”
An FFC spokesperson, Caoimhe Butterly, later told Reuters that the ship was struck en route to Malta, where it was scheduled to pick up other activists, among them climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and retired US Army Colonel Mary Ann Wright. The group said it had arranged the aid shipment “under a media black out to avoid any potential sabotage.”
The FFC also shared footage which allegedly shows the aftermath of the strike, with smoke and flames seen on the ship. At one point in the brief video, an apparent explosion can be heard.
In a second press release, the group later shared a photo of the damage sustained in the strike.
Maltese authorities said they received an SOS call from a vessel in international waters soon after midnight local time, adding that a nearby tugboat assisted the ship, according to Reuters. Officials added that the crew of the Conscience declined to board the tugboat, and also confirmed to CNN that the fire on the ship had been extinguished. No casualties have been reported in the attack.
The FFC press release added that “Israeli ambassadors must be summoned and answer to violations of international law, including the ongoing blockade [on Gaza] and the bombing of our civilian vessel in international waters.”
In a social media post early on Friday, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, said she “received a distressed call from the people of the Freedom Flotilla that is carrying essential food and medicine to the starving Gaza population.”
“I call on concerned state authorities, including maritime authorities, to support the ship and its crew as needed. I trust the competent authorities will also ascertain the facts and intervene appropriately,” she added.
The Israeli military has yet to comment on the incident, but said it was looking into reports about the attack, according to the BBC. Israel’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Reuters.
The FFC mission aimed to bring supplies to Gaza some two months into a heightened blockade by Tel Aviv, whose forces have leveled much of the territory in air and ground operations in response to Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. On Friday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said aid operations in Gaza were on the verge of “total collapse” thanks to the blockade.
In 2010, a similar humanitarian aid flotilla organized by the Free Gaza Movement and the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, a Turkish org, was attacked by Israeli forces in international waters. Nine people were killed in the assault, with another later dying of their injuries, while dozens more were wounded. A UN report later found that all 10 activists had sustained gunshot wounds, and added that “the circumstances of the killing of at least six of the passengers were in a manner consistent with an extra-legal, arbitrary and summary execution.”
Will Porter is assistant news editor and book editor at the Libertarian Institute, and a regular contributor at Antiwar.com. Find more of his work at Consortium News and ZeroHedge.
India and Pakistan: Nations on brink of ‘nuclear war’
news.com.au 2 May 25
Two tough-talking leaders. Two nations struggling with internal turmoil. Both armed with nuclear weapons.
It’s quickly adding up to be a zero-sum crisis.
India and Pakistan are again on the brink of war after a terrorist attack in the troubled state of Kashmir killed 26 tourists — mostly Hindu Indians — and triggered a deadly blame game between the disgruntled neighbours.
“India will identify and punish every terrorist and their backers. We will pursue them to the ends of the earth. India’s spirit will never be broken by terrorism. Terrorism will not go unpunished.”
These words, proclaimed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were spoken in English.
As such, it was a message intended for a global audience.
For its part, Pakistan was dismissive.
“In the absence of any credible investigation and verifiable evidence, attempts to link the Pahalgam attack with Pakistan are frivolous, devoid of rationality and defeat logic,” reads a statement from the Office of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Beneath the bluster, the plight of Kashmir is already being forgotten.
The Hindu-ruled (but mostly Muslim) Principality of Kashmir was given the choice of becoming a semi-independent state of either Pakistan or India by the retreating British Empire in 1947.
It chose India in the face of tribal incursions from Pakistan.
SponsoredNew rules of recruitment in 2025
Two tough-talking leaders. Two nations struggling with internal turmoil. Both armed with nuclear weapons.
It’s quickly adding up to be a zero-sum crisis.
India and Pakistan are again on the brink of war after a terrorist attack in the troubled state of Kashmir killed 26 tourists — mostly Hindu Indians — and triggered a deadly blame game between the disgruntled neighbours.
“India will identify and punish every terrorist and their backers. We will pursue them to the ends of the earth. India’s spirit will never be broken by terrorism. Terrorism will not go unpunished.”
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These words, proclaimed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were spoken in English.
As such, it was a message intended for a global audience.
For its part, Pakistan was dismissive.
“In the absence of any credible investigation and verifiable evidence, attempts to link the Pahalgam attack with Pakistan are frivolous, devoid of rationality and defeat logic,” reads a statement from the Office of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Beneath the bluster, the plight of Kashmir is already being forgotten.
The Hindu-ruled (but mostly Muslim) Principality of Kashmir was given the choice of becoming a semi-independent state of either Pakistan or India by the retreating British Empire in 1947.
It chose India in the face of tribal incursions from Pakistan.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said that their ‘spirit will not be broken’ by terrorism.. Picture: Sachin KUMAR / AFP
But Prime Minister Modi has, in recent years, suspended the region’s special freedoms and allowed his Hindu nationalist supporters to impose their ways on the culturally distinct populace.
“India’s hard-line policies under Modi and the imposition of direct central rule on Kashmir have fuelled deep alienation in the Muslim-majority region,” argues Yale University lecturer Sushant Singh.
That backlash, he adds, has triggered much broader tensions that has been simmering beneath the surface for decades.
“With Modi’s rhetoric leaving little room for compromise, Pakistan’s military leadership under pressure to respond forcefully to any Indian strike, and China’s growing involvement in the region, events in Kashmir risk triggering uncontrollable escalation,” he said.
Kashmir Conundrum
“At the heart of the Kashmir crisis is a combustible mix of religious nationalism, authoritarian governance, and unresolved political grievances,” explains Mr Singh.
Mr Modi stripped Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, of its constitutional privileges in 2019.
Local elections have been suspended. Curfews, media controls and political arrests have become commonplace.
“The reality on the ground remains one of pervasive fear and violence,” adds Mr Singh.
“Kashmir has endured recurring militant attacks, including the killing in Pahalgam, and the continued imposition of draconian laws and heavy security deployments.”
Responsibility for the Pahalgam attack has been claimed by a group calling itself The Resistance Front (TRF), which analysts believe to be an offshoot of Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group.
The TRF has accused Indian Hindus of a co-ordinated campaign to establish settlements in Kashmir and overwhelm its indigenous population.
PM Modi has seized on the TRF’s Pakistani ties to label the incident as a cross-border attack backed by Islamabad.
He’s expelled Pakistani diplomats. He’s closed the border. He’s ordered the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty.
ashmir is inseparable from his broader political strategy, in which he projects strength as a Hindu nationalist strongman, promises violent retribution against enemies, and seeks to rally domestic support through exploiting moments of national security crisis,” Mr Singh states.
Pakistan’s Power Plays
Islamabad has condemned suspension of the Indus water agreement as an “act of war”.
It has also closed its airspace to Indian flights and suspended all bilateral treaties, including a 1972 peace treaty that laid out a path towards a normalised relationship between the two nations.
But Pakistan is in the grip of a severe internal crisis……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/military/india-and-pakistan-nations-on-brink-of-nuclear-war/news-story/2f6d318483fdad71eebf466349123137
India and Pakistan: The nuclear standoff that we really should all be worried about
As tensions between the two countries escalate following a
terrorist attack in Kashmir, Ashis Ray looks at how a conflict could
involve China and America in a war over sovereignty and security.
Independent 30th April 2025 https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/india/india-pakistan-kashmir-attack-terrorism-nuclear-b2741719.html
Republicans Unveil Bill To Bring 2025 Military Budget to Over $1 Trillion
House Republicans unveiled a bill this week that would bring the 2025 US military budget to over $1 trillion.
The legislation would add $150 billion to the budget and includes $25 billion for President Trump’s ‘Iron Dome for America’
by Dave DeCamp, April 29, 2025 , https://news.antiwar.com/2025/04/29/republicans-unveil-bill-to-bring-2025-military-budget-to-over-1-trillion/
House Republicans unveiled a bill this week that would bring the 2025 US military budget to over $1 trillion.
The 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) totaled about $885 billion, and the new supplemental bill drafted by the House and Senate’s armed services committees would add $150 billion, bringing the 2025 military budget to a record-breaking $1.035 trillion.
The bill includes $25 billion for President Trump’s vision to create a new missile defense system for the United States, which he has called the “Iron Dome for America” or the “Golden Dome.” The project would be a boondoggle for US weapons makers and would likely kick off a new global arms race.
According to The Hill, the bill also includes $33.7 billion for shipbuilding, $20.4 billion for munitions, $13.5 billion for “innovation,” $12.9 billion for nuclear deterrence, $11.5 billion for military readiness, $11.1 billion for building up in the Pacific, $7.2 billion for aircraft, $5 billion for the border, $4.5 billion for the B-21 bomber, $2 billion for military intelligence, and $380 million for the Pentagon’s annual audit.
Republicans in the House initially proposed a budget plan to boost military spending by $100 billion, while Senate Republicans pushed for the $150 billion increase.
President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have already said they will seek a more than $1 trillion military budget for 2026, and the White House is expected to make the request for the 2026 NDAA in May.
The US has never officially had a $1 trillion military budget, but the actual cost of US military spending has exceeded $1 trillion for years. According to veteran defense analyst Winslow Wheeler, based on the $895 billion NDAA, US national security spending for 2025 was expected to reach about $1.77 trillion.
Wheeler’s estimate accounts for military-related spending from other government agencies not funded by the NDAA, such as the Department of Veteran Affairs and Homeland Security. It also includes the national security share of the interest accrued on the US debt and other factors.
For second time in 3 years Zelensky sabotages Ukraine war peace deal.
Walt Zlotow, West Suburban Peace Coalition, Glen Ellyn IL 30 Apr 25
Does Ukraine President Zelensky enjoy watching his citizens die needlessly in a US provoked war he could have ended twice?
Zelensky helped ensure Russia would invade February 22, 2022 by pushing NATO membership for Ukraine and massing 60,000 elite troops on the Donbas border to finish off the Russian leaning Donbas Ukrainians seeking independence from Kyiv destroying their culture along with their lives.
But Zelensky sensibly negotiated a peace agreement with Russia in the first two months (Istanbul Agreement) that would have ended the war with no loss of Ukraine territory albeit with no Ukraine NATO membership and independence for the beleaguered Donbas Ukrainians. That was statesmanship of the highest order.
But the US and UK saw a golden opportunity to weaken Russia if not change out the Vladimir Putin regime. What to do? Got it. Send US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to Kyiv to disabuse Zelensky of making peace. Hey, with a couple of hundred billions in US/NATO weapons but no soldiers, you can win Zelensky and go out the George Washington of Ukraine..
The result? Three years on Ukraine is largely destroyed with millions fled, over a hundred thousand casualties, 45,000 square miles gone forever and a shattered economy.
But new sheriff in town Trump brokered a new peace deal which would have ended the war with no further casualties or lost territory, Astonishingly, Zelensky rejected it again, this time of his own free will. He cited both his desire to require Crimea, lost 5 years before he became president, and his goal of Ukraine joining NATO.
So despite a 3 day Russian truce in in the offing over its May celebration of its WWII victory, the dying soldiers and expanding Russian buffer zone in Ukraine to prevent further long range Ukrainian missile attacks will go on till Ukraine simply collapses.
Maybe Zelensky has a nationwide death wish. Maybe he’s delusional or too stupid to realize his leading Ukraine to certain destruction. Or maybe it’s simply his way of telling the US and UK that he’s capable of blowing up a sensible peace agreement all by himself.
Europe is drilling for World War III
NATO is conducting exercises for “a broad offensive from Vilnius to Odessa” at “a scale unseen in decades.”
Alex Krainer, May 01, 2025
[Originally published at I-System TrendCompass] Russia’s military victory over Ukraine has been a near-certainty for months now. Ukraine’s total defeat is only a matter of time, but as that time approaches, European powers have been increasingly determined not to let the war die and are now actively preparing to take it up where Ukraine stumbles. Our liberal democracies are as precious as they are fragile and every precaution must be taken to defend them from the Asiatic hordes gathering in the east.
While our valiant bankers are arranging to allocate trillions of euros of our children’s and grandchildren’s wealth for defense spending, our militaries are diligently exercising and preparing for war, hidden from ordinary Europeans who aren’t exactly enthused about World War 3. But the Russians have noticed: presidential aide and former National Security Adviser Nikolai Patrushev recently stated that, for a second consecutive year, NATO has been
“conducting exercises at our borders at a scale unseen in decades. … They are training for conducting a broad offensive from Vilnius to Odessa, seizing Kaliningrad region, imposing a naval blockade in the Baltic and the Black Seas and executing preventive strikes on the staging locations of Russian nuclear deterrence forces.”
If Mr. Patrushev is correct, it would appear that London, Paris, Berlin and Brussels are actively preparing for war against Russia. But his statement that the exercises are “at a scale unseen in decades,” needs to be put in context.
NATO’s provocations far predate Ukraine war
NATO has been involved in increasingly aggressive military maneuvers at Russia’s doorstep for many years now, especially after the 2014 Euromaidan coup in Kiev. During that time, NATO forces have been conducting as many as 40 major military exercises per year along Russia’s borders.
Movement of their military assets evolved from purely reconnaissance hardware to battle ready ships and aircraft equipped with precision munitions and cruise missiles which would frequently approach Russian territory to as close as 15 km (9.3 miles). On these occasions, they often activated their missiles in repeated mock attacks on Russian targets. In September 2020, chief of operations of Russia’s high command, General Sergey Rudskoi stated that NATO was staging between 33 and 40 such flight approaches per week using fighter jets from Sweden, Germany, Ukraine and Italy.
This suggests that the exercises Mr. Patrushev referred to aren’t Europe’s reaction to Russia’s aggressiveness but a continuation of policy that far predates the Ukraine war. In June 2021, still more than six months before Ukraine war, NATO’s then Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg boasted that,
“Perhaps the most important thing we have done is that for the first time in NATO’s history, we have combat-ready troops in the eastern part of the Alliance. New battle groups are deployed to the Baltic countries and Poland, we have tripled the size of the NATO readiness force.”
In a 2016 radio-interview with John Bachelor, late professor Stephen Cohen noted that,
“NATO has decided to quadruple its military forces on Russia’s borders or near Russia’s borders… The last time there was this kind of Western hostile military force on Russia’s borders was when Nazis invaded Russia in 1941. There has never been anything like this. During the 40-year Cold War there was this vast buffer zone that ran from the Soviet borders all the way to Berlin. There were no NATO or American troops there. This is a very radical departure on the part of the [Obama] administration. … Russia is not threatening any country on its border.”
$75 trillion worth of democracy and freedom
Professor Cohen was right. Russia really wasn’t threatening any of its neighbors, and no Russian leader has either explicitly or implicitly expressed any territorial pretentions against any European nation. The deranged claims that once they are done with Ukraine, the Russians will continue on to Poland, the Baltic states, Finland and then, who knows, perhaps Paris and London, are based on nothing but European leaders reckless fear mongering, aimed at justifying NATO’s continuing preparations for war.
The ultimate reason isn’t the belief that Russia will launch a medieval invasion of Europe and deprive us of our democracy and freedom, but the certain knowledge that Russia is sitting on an estimated $75 trillion of our freedom and democracy. Those precious resources are utterly wasted on the unworthy Russians. Here’s what the Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher once said (video at this link):
“If you were to make a table of countries in proportion to the natural resources they have, the top one would almost certainly be Russia. She has everything. Oil, gas, diamonds, platinum, gold, silver, all the industrial metals, marvelous standing timber, a wonderfully rich soil. But countries are not rich in proportion to their natural resources. Countries are rich whose governments have policies which encourage essential creativity, initiative and enterprise of man and recognize his desire to do better for his family.”…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. https://alexkrainer.substack.com/p/europe-is-drilling-for-world-war?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1063805&post_id=162553198&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1ise1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts US nuclear weapons will cost nearly a trillion dollars over the coming decade.
Greg Mello, Los Alamos Study Group, 30 Apr 25
Albuquerque, NM — Last week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its latest biennial estimate of the costs of nuclear weapons over the coming decade (2025-2034).
CBO’s nuclear weapons cost estimates are built from the budget projections of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), as well as CBO’s own estimates of likely cost increases for these programs over the period in question, based on CBO’s historical records for comparable programs.
CBO estimates that nuclear weapons will cost a total of $946 billion (B) over the coming decade, an average of about $95 B per year. This is $190 B (25%) higher than CBO’s estimate from two years ago.
Albuquerque, NM — Last week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its latest biennial estimate of the costs of nuclear weapons over the coming decade (2025-2034).
CBO’s nuclear weapons cost estimates are built from the budget projections of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), as well as CBO’s own estimates of likely cost increases for these programs over the period in question, based on CBO’s historical records for comparable programs.
CBO estimates that nuclear weapons will cost a total of $946 billion (B) over the coming decade, an average of about $95 B per year. This is $190 B (25%) higher than CBO’s estimate from two years ago.
In the case of the Sentinel silo-based missile system, CBO’s estimates explicitly “do not include all of the cost growth that the program is likely to experience” (pp. 6-7). In other words, CBO knows its estimate is too low but cannot provide a defensible better one, because it would only be a guess at this point. In other words, neither DoD nor CBO have any real idea what Sentinel will cost.
Many nuclear weapons-related costs, such as DOE environmental cleanup, are not included.
The report breaks down its findings in several ways, all clearly presented. Year-by-year estimates are not provided.
CBO’s findings include these items of particular interest regarding NNSA:
- NNSA’s facility modernization plans are likely to cost $72 B over the coming decade, out of a total of $110 B that NNSA will spend on facilities over this period (p. 5). NNSA’s facilities will thus cost much more than the $16 B earmarked for “stockpile services” (NNSA’s part in maintaining existing weapons), or the $67 B to be spent on “other stewardship and support activities” (p. 4).
- “CBO projects that the costs of nuclear acquisition programs would represent 11.8 percent of DoD’s total planned acquisition costs over the next decade as outlined in the 2025 budget submission…Competition for funding among
acquisition programs will force DoD to make difficult choices about which programs to pursue.” (pp. 5-6). - NNSA’s projected total 10-year costs have increased by 27% over just the past two years. Some 85% ($45 B / $83 B) of these costs are not associated with any particular warhead but are rather expenses associated with NNSA’s capabilities overall (p. 10). CBO believes NNSA’s programs will cost an extra $11 B over the decade beyond NNSA’s projections, a little more than $1 B per year.
- Regarding NNSA’s cost increase, “[a]bout 60 percent of the total increase comes from higher expected costs for operation and modernization of infrastructure, including establishing and operating new pit production facilities, secondary production facilities, tritium production facilities, and domestic uranium enrichment facilities. About 30 percent comes from support programs, such as scientific research to improve the weapon production and sustainment process, and federal employee oversight of contractors operating laboratories.” The balance of the NNSA increase comes from new programs and projects, leading to higher annual spending in the 2032-2034 years than in 2023-2024 years, which are now in the rear-view mirror.
- “CBO’s estimates come with substantial uncertainty stemming mainly from two sources: Future plans may not be achievable, leading to cost growth and delays; and the costs of developing, producing, and operating weapon systems are uncertain even when the plans are fully determined” (p. 8).
Study Group director Greg Mello:
“As CBO notes, most nuclear weapons costs are incurred by modernizing the arsenal and its production facilities, not by deploying and maintaining existing weapons.
“NNSA insists that its entire growing portfolio of projects and programs is necessary. There is no distinction between “needs” and “wants.” NNSA also believes, and has said, it is no longer “cost-constrained” [NNSA: “Evolving the Nuclear Security Enterprise,” Sep 2022, p. 3]. Under these assumptions, NNSA’s costs are certain to continue growing rapidly. If the present growth rate continues, NNSA’s warhead budget will double in less than 8 years.
“There is one high-dollar NNSA infrastructure program that is not generic to all warheads but rather needed solely for just one, namely pit production at LANL. LANL pit production is explicitly directed to the W87-1 warhead for the Sentinel missile and is unlikely to be sustainable beyond the needs of that program, if indeed it can be established at all. The jury is still out on whether LANL pit production will be possible, or stable and if so, for how long.
“NNSA will not be able to operate two pit facilities, even if it can set one up at LANL. Once the pit facility at the Savannah River Site begins production, every budget hawk on Capitol Hill and the Pentagon will eye LANL’s gerry-rigged pit program for closure, assuming it operates at all.
“As CBO notes, there will be increased competition for defense dollars as nuclear weapons programs grow. The huge expenses tallied in this report were not anticipated at the outset of the nuclear modernization program. Since 2015, and with every report, estimated nuclear weapons costs have increased beyond prior predictions, from $348 B in 2015 to $946 B today. The opportunity costs are staggering.
“CBO devotes two big text boxes to the troubled Sentinel program — why they can’t estimate its cost, etc. The buzzards are circling. The coming year will bring more revelations about Sentinel and they won’t be good. The White House and Congress should pull the plug on Sentinel now, however difficult that would be.
“In every report since 2015, CBO has revised its estimate of future cost overruns. This year’s prediction will also be too low, especially for Sentinel and NNSA.
“The problems faced by nuclear weapons programs cannot all be fixed by pouring in more money. There are very real material and human limitations involved. There will be no return to the ‘heroic mode of production’ for nuclear weapons. Even if Congress dumped $100 or $200 billion more on nuclear weapons, the system that produces them would not ‘jump to the task’ for years, if at all. The people, the skills, the facilities, the motivation — none of these are in place for a nuclear arms race, especially if the U.S. is going to build its manufacturing back and repair its sorry civilian infrastructure. The neocons who want to ramp up nuclear production are ignorant about what that would really entail. They are going to be sorely disappointed.
“Practical problems aside, ‘peace through strength’ is a mistaken idea in this place and time, especially as regards nuclear weapons. No thoughtful strategy supports the proliferation of US nuclear weapons. Quite the contrary — present policies are driven by organized greed and fear. US nuclear weapons policies, and as we see here their costs, are out of control.”
1 This Month
26 September – International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons
PLEASE OPPOSE HR 8255 AND S.3639 – bills would accelerate satellite deployment, with no environmental review or safeguards – https://ncstd5li.quorum.us/campaign/169331/
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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