Author: Steven Sahiounie

By Andrew Korybko The US’ new stance on “Israeli” settlements is condemnable from both the legal and ethical standpoints, but it doesn’t change the reality that Tel Aviv’s colonial policy won’t be curtailed unless the international community summons the political will to impose real costs upon the self-professed “Jewish State”, which doesn’t appear likely anytime soon. There’s been near-universal outrage all across the globe except from “Israel” and some of Trump’s supporters over the US’ new stance on “Israeli” settlements after Pompeo declared last month that his government now believes that “the establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not,…

By Andre Vltchek In 2019, I have written a long analysis about “the Uyghur issue”; analysis which will be soon published as a book. For some time, I have been warning the world that the West, and the United States in particular, are helping to radicalize the Uyghurs in Xinjiang Province and outside. And not only that: I clearly mapped movement of the Uyghur radicals through some countries like Indonesia, towards Turkey, from where they are then injected into brutal war zones like Idlib in Syria. I worked in Idlib area, with the Syrian commanders, and I spoke at length with…

Two civilians were killed and another two were injured in shelling in the Minyan area in the Syrian city of Aleppo, Major General Yuri Borenkov, the head of the Defence Ministry’s Reconciliation Center in Syria, said on Tuesday. “As a result of mortar shelling of the Minyan area of ​​Aleppo city, two civilians were killed and two more people were injured”, Borenkov said. He also said that the Russian military police continued to patrol the routes in the provinces of Aleppo, Hasakah and Raqqa. Following talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a Russian-Turkish memorandum, which stipulates…

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted on 7 December that Iran and the United States were conducting an exchange of US-held Iranian scientist Massoud Soleimani and Chinese-American Xiyue Wang detained in Iran. Tehran is ready for a prisoner exchange, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted on 9 December, adding that “the ball is in the US’ court”. ​Government spokesman Ali Rabiei said at a briefing earlier in the day that Iran is ready to exchange more prisoners with the United States following the successful swap last week, with the goal of eventually exchanging all prisoners in the countries…

The factions in the Iraqi parliament agreed on Monday on the candidacy of the future prime minister, lawmaker Nahida Diani stated. “Political factions have chosen several candidates for the post of prime minister. I have information that an agreement has been reached on the candidacy of the head of government, but so far the name of the candidate has not been revealed”, Diani said. Although the name of the person has not been revealed, it is known that he was not part of previous governments. It is expected that his candidacy will satisfy the “street” amid mass anti-government protests nationwide.…

Nearly 175 Saudi Arabian military aviation students have been grounded in the aftermath of a deadly shooting by a Saudi Air Force lieutenant at a US Navy base in Florida last week. US officials told Reuters on Tuesday that the move was part of a “safety stand-down.” “A safety stand-down and operational pause commenced Monday for Saudi Arabian aviation students,” said Lieutenant Andriana Genualdi, a Navy spokeswoman Other US officials appeared to similarly sugarcoat the grounding that included three different military facilities: Naval Air Station Pensacola, Naval Air Station Whiting Field and Naval Air Station Mayport. There are reportedly about…

Lebanese Caretaker Labor Minister Camille Abousleiman says dozens of companies in the cash-strapped Arab country are set to resort to mass dismissals very soon as they are wrangling with their own debt problems in the wake of the acute financial and economic crisis that Lebanon is going through. “Over the past month, more than 70 institutions and companies submitted requests to the ministry for the layoff of over 1500 workers, citing the current exceptional crisis prevailing in the country. Moreover, to hundreds of workers filing complaints of arbitrary dismissal, reduction in their wages and termination of employment contracts by their…

By Stephen Lendman On Monday, a surprising Washington Post report headlined: “The Afghanistan Papers — A secret history of the war. At War With the Truth,” saying: “US officials constantly said they were making progress. They were not, and they knew it.” More on this below. *** In its 19th year, endless unwinnable US war in Afghanistan is all about wanting the country used as a land-based aircraft carrier against Russia, China and Iran. Potentially worth trillions of dollars, it’s about plundering Afghan mineral riches, including its barite, chromite, coal, cobalt, copper, gold, iron ore, lead, enormous amounts of highly-valued lithium and other…

By Stephen Lendman Israel is nuclear-armed and dangerous, developing these weapons since the mid-1950s, its well-known open secret the official narrative conceals. Its ruling authorities refused to sign the NPT or abide by its provisions. Nor do they permit IAEA inspections of their nuclear facilities. According to the Federation of American Scientists and other experts, its nuke warheads can be launched by air, ground, sea, or sub-surface — able to strike targets in the Middle East and elsewhere. It’s believed the Jewish state also has 100 or more laser-guided mini-nuke bunker-buster bombs — able to penetrate and destroy underground targets. According…

By Pepe Escobar On November 15, a wave of protests engulfed over 100 Iranian cities as the government resorted to an extremely unpopular measure: a fuel tax hike of as much as 300%, without a semblance of a PR campaign to explain the reasons. Iranians, after all, have reflexively condemned subsidy removals for years now – especially related to cheap gasoline. If you are unemployed or underemployed in Iran, especially in big cities and towns, Plan A is always to pursue a second career as a taxi driver. Protests started as overwhelmingly peaceful. But in some cases, especially in Tehran, Shiraz,…