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The country can’t part with air defense systems that are crucial for its deterrence capabilities, PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said

Athens will not supply Kiev with US-made Patriot or Soviet-designed S-300 air defense systems, the prime minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has said.

Local media reported earlier this week that the country might provide Kiev with at least one Patriot system, following pressure from the EU and NATO on member states to increase support for Ukraine as it experiences a shortage of air defense systems and munitions.

However, in an interview with Iefimerida on Wednesday, Mitsotakis made it clear that the delivery is not going to happen. “Greece will not send either S-300[s] nor Patriot[s] to Ukraine,” he said.

“We have said from the start that we cannot provide weapons systems that are critical to our deterrence capability,” the prime minister explained.

Athens has supported Kiev “in various ways,” including by providing weapons, during the conflict with Russia and will continue to do so if it finds “surplus material,” he promised.

But the air defenses in question “are critical systems for the protection of Greek airspace and cannot be ceded to Ukraine,” he reiterated.

Together with Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, and Spain, Greece is among six European nations that operate the Patriot systems.

While Berlin has promised to supply another Patriot to Ukraine, Poland said earlier this week that it has no air defense systems to spare. Spanish daily El Pais reported on Friday that Madrid will only provide air defense missiles to Kiev, but not the Patriot systems.

In late March, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that at least five Patriots operated by Kiev’s forces have been destroyed by the Russian military since the start of the year.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday that the decline in deliveries of Western aid in recent months has left Ukrainian troops “outgunned, allowing Russia to push forward on the front line.”

“Ukraine has lacked air defense, enabling more Russian missiles and drones to hit their targets,” he said. However, the NATO chief claimed that “it is not too late for Ukraine to prevail because more support is on the way.”

READ MORE: Poland doesn’t have Patriots to give Ukraine – Tusk

Russia has warned that deliveries of foreign weapons systems to Kiev will not prevent Moscow from achieving its military goals, but will merely prolong the fighting and could increase the risk of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO. According to officials in Moscow, the provision of arms, the sharing of intelligence, and the training of Ukrainian troops means that Western nations have already become de-facto parties to the conflict.

Officers used tear gas to disperse activists at Emory University campus amid a nationwide crackdown

Police officers in the US state of Georgia used tear gas and tasers to disperse a pro-Palestinian student encampment on Thursday, as law enforcement targeted activists at university campuses nationwide.

The clashes took place at Emory University in Atlanta, where protesters – including students from several nearby universities – had set up tents. They were rallying against what they termed “the genocide of Palestinians” by Israel, and against Cop City, a local police and fire department training center currently under construction.

“We are demanding total institutional divestment from Israeli apartheid and Cop City at all Atlanta colleges and universities,” an organizer said. “We are occupying Emory, not because it is the only institution that is complicit in genocide and police militarization, but because its ties are some of the strongest.”

READ MORE: US campus protesters akin to 1930s Nazis – Netanyahu

The university said in a statement that several dozen people had “trespassed” on its campus, and warned that it would “not tolerate vandalism or other criminal activity.” Members of the Emory Police Department, Atlanta Police, and Georgia State Patrol were called to the scene, according to local media.

”Atlanta community members were indiscriminately attacked today with pepper bullets, tear gas, and tasers for the simple act of camping out on a school lawn,” the organizers said.

Extremely disturbing footage. Atlanta cops tasing a restrained student protester at Emory university minutes ago.

pic.twitter.com/Iq9p98za8y

A video purportedly filmed at the location shows several officers holding down a handcuffed man, as one of them appears to fire a taser into his leg.

The APD confirmed using “chemical irritants,” but stressed that its officers did not “deploy rubber bullets,” contrary to some reports circulating online.

While the university initially claimed that the activists were “not members of our community,” it later acknowledged that out of 28 people arrested in the raid, 20 were from Emory.

Pro-Palestinian activists faced crackdowns across the US this week. The wave of campus demonstrations was triggered last week by a protest at Columbia University in New York, and then spread to some 40 universities and colleges in the US and Canada, according to NBC News. On Thursday, police reportedly targeted encampments at Indiana University Bloomington and Ohio State University.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has welcomed the US police crackdown, branding the protesters “anti-Semitic mobs” and comparing them to Nazi sympathizers in the 1930s.

Jonathan Greenblatt, leader of the US pro-Israel group Anti-Defamation League, claimed in an interview with MSNBC this week that the wave of protests was organized by “campus proxies” of Iran.

Israel attacked Gaza in October last year in retaliation for a deadly incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas, in which 1,200 Israelis were reportedly killed. The death toll in the enclave has since surpassed 35,000, according to Palestinian officials.

Washington wants Beijing to disown Moscow so that it is isolated in a potential confrontation

Antony Blinken traveled to China this week to warn Beijing about sanctions for supplying military technology to Russia, according to the Financial Times and Bloomberg in their previews of the US secretary of state’s visit.

They didn’t specify which sanctions might follow, although FT sources suggested that financial and other institutions in China could face restrictions. Meanwhile, the Izvestia newspaper has revealed that several Chinese banks, including the largest, ICBC, are already not accepting payments in yuan from Russia, for fear of secondary sanctions. Almost 80% of payments to China have been returned, the newspaper claimed.

Washington is apparently convinced that China’s support for the Russian defense industry, although not publicized, is genuine and that this is having a significant impact on the course of the Ukraine conflict.

Even with all this in mind, it was hard to imagine that Blinken would communicate in the language of threats and ultimatums. The first experience of this type of rhetoric between the administration of US President Joe Biden and the Chinese showed that hard and fast pressure does not work with the current leadership in Beijing.

In fact, it has the opposite effect. Proof of this was the failed meeting in Alaska in March 2021, when Blinken and National Security adviser Jake Sullivan tried to pressure their Chinese counterparts, only to be met with a harsh rebuke – and a public one at that – which was a far cry from the spirit of Beijing’s traditionally restrained diplomacy.

Blinken subsequently adopted a much more subtle game. He likely tried to drive a wedge between Moscow and Beijing by exploiting the fact that China’s peace initiatives to resolve the Ukraine conflict do not match the maximalist demands of Russian officials (at least in public).

That may not have worked, considering that the Chinese openly stated on Friday that NATO was responsible for the Ukraine crisis.

Beijing is calling for a cessation of hostilities, in effect a freezing of the conflict, but has made no mention of Ukraine’s demilitarization, denazification,or regime change in Kiev.

Recently, there have been signals that could be interpreted as a willingness by Beijing to distance itself from Moscow.

Specifically, an article in The Economist by Feng Yujun, a professor at Peking University, has caused a stir. This methodical, official expert on Russia and the Ukraine conflict speaks very much in the spirit of Western political thought: he criticizes Moscow, predicts its defeat, praises Kiev for its “strength and unity of its resistance,” and even suggests that if Russia doesn’t change its power structure, it will continue to threaten international security by provoking wars. 

Knowing how Chinese society is organized, it’s hard to imagine that the professor who penned this article was acting at his own risk without the support of responsible comrades in Beijing. The recent refusal of four major Chinese banks to accept payments from Russia, even in yuan, can also be seen as an alarming signal to Moscow. In other words, it may turn out that the Russian-Chinese alliance, so strong in words, is far from being effective and trouble-free in practice. And Blinken would certainly have tried to consolidate this trend.

There is a problem, however: the overall context of US-China relations doesn’t make it any easier for Washington.

The package of military aid to Taiwan recently passed by the US Congress certainly doesn’t create a favorable emotional background for the delicate negotiations that Blinken tried to conduct in Beijing. Washington’s efforts to create anti-Chinese military and political alliances in the region – from the Philippines to Australia, from India and Vietnam to Japan – also aren’t conducive to mutual understanding between the two superpowers. American strategists make no secret of the fact that the main, most dangerous and most principled geopolitical opponent of the United States is not Russia, but China.

If that’s the case, what’s the point of Beijing meeting Washington’s demands and joining its pressure on Moscow? Only so that later, when the US achieves its goals in Russia, Beijing will have to confront it alone? This is hardly in the plans of Comrade Xi and his team.

This article was first published by Kommersant, translated and edited by the RT team

The US secretary of state says Washington is prepared to impose more sanctions on Beijing over the alleged transfer of military components

Washington is ready to introduce more sanctions against China over its alleged transfer of dual-use goods and components, which it claims can be used by the Russia, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.

Speaking at a press conference in Beijing following a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the US official recalled that Washington has already imposed sanctions against more than 100 Chinese entities and is “fully prepared to act” and “take additional measures.”

Blinken claimed that China’s alleged support for the Russian defense industry raises concerns not only about the situation in Ukraine, but also about a “medium to long-term threat that many Europeans feel viscerally that Russia poses to them.”

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal also reported that the US was drafting sanctions that could cut off some Chinese banks from the global financial system unless Beijing severs its economic ties with Russia.

The outlet claimed that US officials believe trade with China has allowed Russia to rebuild its military industrial capacity and could help it defeat Ukraine in a war of attrition.

Beijing, in turn, has accused the US of hypocrisy for providing billions of dollars in assistance to Ukraine while “unreasonably criticizing the normal trade and economic relations between Russia and China.”

“This is a very hypocritical and irresponsible approach,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on Friday in response to Blinken’s concerns about Beijing's support of Moscow.

China has also vehemently rejected accusations leveled by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg of “fueling” the Ukraine conflict. Beijing has instead blamed NATO for instigating the crisis by continuing its expansion in Europe and refusing to respect Russian national security concerns.

Following his meeting with Blinken, Xi suggested that the US and China “should be partners, not rivals” and should strive towards achieving “mutual success and not harm each other.”

“I proposed three major principles: mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation. They are not only a summary of past experience, but also a guide to the future,” the Chinese leader was quoted as saying.

Beijing has maintained a policy of neutrality on the Ukraine conflict, with Chinese officials repeatedly stating that the country is not selling weapons to either Russia or Ukraine. Earlier this month, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning insisted that China “regulates the export of dual-use articles in accordance with laws and regulations,” urging “relevant countries” not to “smear or attack the normal relations between China and Russia.”

In December last year, US President Joe Biden issued a decree which enabled sanctions on foreign financial institutions that continue to deal with Russia. It targeted lenders outside US and EU jurisdictions that help Russia source sensitive items, which reportedly include semiconductors, machine tools, chemical precursors, ball bearings, and optical systems.

Beijing has flatly rejected the US-led military bloc’s claim that it is “fueling” the conflict

NATO is directly responsible for the Ukraine conflict, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a press briefing on Friday, reacting to criticism raised by the US-led military bloc.

On Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg accused Beijing of supposedly supporting Russian weapons manufacturing through the export of dual-use components to the country.

“China says it wants good relations with the West. At the same time, Beijing continues to fuel the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War Two. They cannot have it both ways,” the official warned.

Wang rejected the claim, saying it is based on rumors. China did not start the Ukraine crisis, he insisted, and NATO’s responsibility for it is “unshiftable.” The US-led military bloc “should reflect on its role, stop shifting the blame, and do something practical to promote a political settlement,” he added.

According to Beijing, NATO’s expansion in Europe and refusal to take Russian national security concerns into consideration triggered the hostilities. A roadmap to peace that China proposed in early 2023 called for that core problem to be addressed, he noted.

Kiev rejected a potential peace treaty with Moscow which the parties had negotiated in the early weeks of the conflict, and opted to continue armed hostilities. The US and its allies have vowed to stand with Ukraine “for as long as it takes” to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia. Moscow has claimed that Ukrainian military casualties since February 2022 are approaching 500,000.

In his rebuke of Beijing, Stoltenberg claimed that in 2023, “Russia imported 90% of its microelectronics from China, used to produce missiles, tanks and aircraft.” Wang said Chinese trade was above board, and claimed that “more than 60% of weapons parts and dual-use items imported by Russia come from the US and the West.”

READ MORE: Beijing warns Washington against crossing ‘red lines’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is currently visiting China. He reportedly intends to use the threat of financial restrictions, which Washington is poised to impose on Chinese banks involved in trade with Russia, as leverage. During his meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday, the latter warned that US attempts to infringe on “China’s legitimate development rights” were undermining bilateral relations.

Kiev’s forces have been “outgunned” by Russia due to a decline in Western aid, the chief of the US-led military bloc has said

Insufficient support from the West for Ukraine is the reason for Russia’s advances on the battlefield, but more military aid for Kiev is on its way, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said.

He was speaking in Berlin on Thursday, where he received the Eric M. Warburg Award from the German-American NGO Atlantik-Brucke for “his outstanding dedication to the transatlantic friendship and partnership in turbulent times.”

The deteriorating situation for Kiev in its conflict with Moscow was one of the main topics of his acceptance speech, in which he said Ukraine “is where we are being tested.”

“We have to be honest. The reality is that, in recent months, NATO allies have not provided the support we have promised,” he said. “For months, the US was not able to agree a package. And in Europe, the delivery of ammunition is far below the levels we said we would provide.”

On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden signed a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine following a lengthy standoff between the Democrats and Republicans in Congress. This had reduced deliveries of US weapons and ammunition by almost half.

Last year, the EU vowed to supply Kiev with 1 million shells by March 2024. However, the bloc later acknowledged that it would not be able to meet this goal. Ukrainian officials said previously that they had only received around a third of the promised munitions.

“These delays have consequences,” Stoltenberg acknowledged. Without enough Western aid, “Ukraine has been outgunned, allowing Russia to push forward on the front line.”

However, NATO chief insisted that “it is not too late for Ukraine to prevail because more support is on the way.”

He noted that the UK had recently announced more ammunition, air defenses, and deep-precision strike capabilities for Kiev, while Germany promised to supply a third US-made Patriot air-defense system.

On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that the $61 billion US military aid package or any other weapons deliveries to Ukraine would not “change the dynamics on the front line.”

READ MORE: More weapons for Kiev won’t change battlefield dynamics – Kremlin

Earlier this week, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said Moscow’s forces currently hold the initiative everywhere along the front line, and are capturing more settlements from the Ukrainians. He estimated Kiev’s losses since the start of the conflict in February 2022 at around half-a-million troops.

Attempts to smear pro-Palestinian protests as “tinged” by Russia are an affront to voters, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman has said

Former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is insulting American voters by trying to blame Moscow for a wave of pro-Palestinian protests across the country, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.

The senior Democrat has linked pro-Palestinian protests in the US with alleged foreign influence on multiple occasions, most recently in an interview with Irish public broadcaster Raidio Teilifis Eireann (RTE) this week. Pelosi also took issue with the ‘Genocide Joe’ nickname that US President Joe Biden has been branded with over his failure to pressure Israel into showing more restraint in its military campaign in Gaza.

Pelosi acknowledged that pro-Palestinian sentiment could impact Biden’s support during the US presidential vote in November, and claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted the presumptive Republican candidate, Donald Trump, to be elected.

“It’s in Putin’s interest for – what’s his name? – to win. And therefore I see some encouragement on the part of the Russians of some of what is going on,” she alleged of the demonstrations. Pro-Palestinian activists are genuine in their feelings, she conceded, but “some of it has a Russian tinge to it.”

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggests some pro-Palestinian protests, especially those against President Biden, have “a Russian tinge to it.”

“It's in Putin's interest for 'What's His Name' to win, and therefore I see some encouragement on the part of the Russians.” pic.twitter.com/WgDByTwkGZ

Responding to Pelosi’s remarks in a social media post, Zakharova said they “can only be taken as an insult to the Americans and a disregard for democracy.”

In January, the former House speaker called on the FBI to investigate the financing of pro-Palestinian groups, claiming that their demands for a ceasefire in Gaza were “Putin’s message.” Pelosi was also caught on camera lashing out at hecklers outside her home, telling them to “go back to China,” supposedly where their “headquarters” were located.

Biden’s approval ratings have taken a hit among Democratic voters over his pro-Israeli stance, although Pelosi insisted that the president has been “the biggest advocate for humanitarian assistance to Palestinians” amid the conflict in Gaza. “The groups outside with their protest lay some blame at his doorstep, when he is the only one advocating at that level,” she added.

"GO BACK TO CHINA WHERE YOU CAME FROM!"
Nancy Pelosi lost her temper after pro-Palestinian protesters occupied her driveway.

Pelosi recently said that "for them [the protesters] to call for a cease-fire is Mr. Putin's message."… pic.twitter.com/rWjuag4H4v

This week, local authorities across the US used force to disperse pro-Palestinian rallies at university campuses, with mass arrests reported in some cases. Protesters were targeted at Yale, Harvard, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Southern California, and other institutions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has welcomed the US crackdown, branding the activists “anti-Semitic mobs” and comparing them to Nazi sympathizers in the 1930s.

READ MORE: US campus protesters akin to 1930s Nazis – Netanyahu

Putin has publicly stated that he would be more comfortable with “predictable” and “old-school” Biden than Trump as the next US president.

Negative factors in US-China relations are increasing, the country’s foreign minister has told his American counterpart

The US is challenging China’s core interests and suppressing the country’s development, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated on Friday during talks with his US counterpart, Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The “giant ship” of China-US ties had stabilized, “but negative factors in the relationship are still increasing and building,” Wang said during a meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.

Blinken arrived in Beijing on Thursday from Shanghai, where he urged the Chinese government to provide a level playing field for US firms in the country.

Bilateral ties face “all kinds of disruptions. China’s legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed and our core interests are facing challenges,” Wang  stressed.

Beijing and Washington could either engage in cooperation or confrontation, the foreign minister warned.

China is interested in “stable, healthy, and sustainable” relations and “win-win cooperation” with the US, he pointed out.

In order for it to continue, however, Washington should not interfere in Chinese internal affairs or cross Beijing’s ‘red lines’ when it comes to the nation's sovereignty, security and development, he stressed.

The foreign minister was apparently referring to the tensions around Taiwan, which Beijing views as a Chinese province. Despite agreeing with the ‘One China’ policy on paper, the US maintains ties with the self-governing island and supplies Taipei with weapons.

Blinken told Wang that “there's no substitute in our judgment for face-to-face diplomacy” between the two countries. The administration of US President Joe Biden wants to ensure that “we're as clear as possible about the areas where we have differences, at the very least to avoid misunderstandings, to avoid miscalculations,” he said.

Ahead of Blinken’s trip, US State Department officials indicated that China’s alleged support for Russia amid the conflict in Ukraine will top the agenda during his meetings with Chinese officials. Beijing hasn’t supplied any weapons to Moscow, but US officials claim that Chinese-made circuitry, aircraft parts and machine tools have been helping Russia boost its military industrial capacity.

READ MORE: China threatens US with response to missile deployment

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week, citing informed sources, that the US authorities are preparing sanctions that would not only target Chinese companies, but would also cut off some of the country’s banks from the global financial system.

Governments cannot take big decisions extremely quickly except in the most extreme of circumstances. There are mechanisms in all states that consider policy decisions, weigh them up, involve the various departments of the state whose activities are affected by that decision, and arrive at a conclusion, though not necessarily a good one.

The decision to stop aid funding to UNRWA was not taken by numerous Western states in a single day.

In the UK, several different government ministries had to coordinate. Even within only a single ministry, the FCDO, views would have to be coordinated through written submissions and interdepartmental meetings between the departments dealing with the Middle East, with the United Nations, with the United States, with Europe and then of course between the diplomatic and development wings of the ministry.

That process would include seeking the views of British Ambassadors to Tel Aviv, Doha, Cairo, Riyadh, Istanbul and Washington and to the United Nations in Geneva and in New York.

It is not necessarily a lengthy process but it is not a day’s work, and nor would it need to be. There was no practical impact to making the announcement of cutting UNRWA funding a day sooner or a day later.

Consider that the parallel process had to be completed in the United States, in Canada, in Germany, in Australia and in all the other Western powers that contributed to starvation in Gaza by cutting aid to UNRWA.

All of these countries had to go through their procedures, and it could only be by prior coordination – weeks in advance – between these states that they announced all on the same day the destruction of the life support system for Palestinians, then in absolute need.

And then consider that we now know for certain that the Israelis had produced no evidence whatsoever of UNRWA complicity in Hamas resistance, on which these decisions in all those states were allegedly based.

I have no doubt at all that the Western political elite, paid tools of the zionist machine, are complicit in the genocide of Palestinians and ethnic cleansing of Gaza at a much deeper level than the people have yet understood. The refusal by Starmer and Sunak to contemplate ending arms sales and military support to Israel is not due to inertia or concern for the arms industry. It is that they actively support the destruction of the Palestinians.

The coordinated decision of the Western nations to fast track famine by stopping UNRWA funding was announced within an hour,  following the ICJ ruling that Gazans were at immediate risk of genocide, and drove from the media headlines the adverse ruling against Israel.

This sent the clearest signal in response that the Western powers would not be stopped from the genocide by international law or institutions.

The Western powers give not a fig for 16,000 massacred Palestinian infants. No evidence of mass graves in hospitals will move them. They knew genocide was happening and continued actively to arm and abet it.

This genocide is the desired goal of the West. No other explanation is remotely plausible.

Western Political Support for this Genocide is No Accident

I have never believed the spin that Biden is trying to restrain Netanyahu, while simultaneously arming and funding Netanyahu and using US forces to fight alongside him.

Biden is making no effort to restrain Netanyahu. Biden fully supports the genocide.

My reading of this was reinforced when I was looking back at the Israeli murders on the Mavi Mamara in 2010, when they killed ten unarmed aid workers attempting a Freedom Flotilla aid delivery to Gaza. Israel’s actions were clearly both murderous and in breach of international law. Joe Biden as Vice President defended Israel staunchly then.  It is essential to understand that Genocide Joe has always been Genocide Joe.

Joe Biden took the lead in defending the raid to the U.S. public. In an interview with PBS, he described the raid as “legitimate” and argued that the flotilla organizers could have disembarked elsewhere before transferring the aid to Gaza. “So what’s the big deal here? What’s the big deal of insisting it go straight to Gaza?” Biden asked about the humanitarian mission. “Well, it’s legitimate for Israel to say, ‘I don’t know what’s on that ship. These guys are dropping eight — 3,000 rockets on my people.’”

Biden is not being outplayed by Netanyahu. He is actively abetting Netanyahu and shares with him the objective of full Israeli occupation of Gaza after the Palestinian people are killed or expelled into Sinai. He also shares with Netanyahu the aim of a wider regional conflict in which the US and Gulf states ally with Israel against Iran, Syria, Yemen and Hezbollah. This is their joint vision of the Middle East – Greater Israel, and US hegemony operating through the Sunni monarchies.

If you believe all the spin from the White House about Biden trying to restrain Netanyahu, I suggest you look instead at the White House and State Department spokesmen refusing to accept any single instance of Israel atrocity and deferring to Israel on every single crime.

I am currently in Pakistan, and I must say it has been a great refreshment to be in a country where everybody understands why ISIS, Al Nusra etc. never attacked Israeli interests, and sees precisely what Western governments are doing over Gaza. What is understood by developing nations is thankfully understood by Gen Z in the West as well.

The Arab regimes of the Gulf and Jordan are dependent upon Israeli and US security services and surveillance for protection from their own people. The lack of really massive street protest against their own regimes by Arab peoples is a direct testimony to the effectiveness of that vicious repression, particularly when states like Jordan actually fight alongside Israel against Iranian weapons.

The anti-Iranian card is of course the trick both Biden and Netanyahu have left to play. By promoting an escalation with Iran, Western politicians were able to default to a position of claiming the case for arming Israel was proven – and I think were genuinely perplexed to find the public did not buy it.

The political class, across the Western world and the Arab world, is utterly divorced from its people over Gaza. We are seeing worldwide repression, as peaceful conferences are stormed by police in Germany, students are beaten by police on American campuses, and in the UK old white people like me suffer the kind of continual harassment long suffered by young Muslim men.

This is not the work of Netanyahu operating as a rogue. It is the result of the machinations of a professional political class across the Western world welded to zionism, with the supremacy of Israel as an article of fundamental belief.

Times are not this dark by accident. They were designed to be this dark.

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Kiev could use the systems to “put more pressure” on the peninsula, according to the newspaper

US-supplied Army Tactical Missile Systems, known as ATACMS, will allow Ukrainian forces to target Russia’s Crimean peninsula “more effectively,” the New York Times has reported, citing senior Pentagon officials.

Washington secretly sent Kiev an unspecified number of longer-range ATACMS last month, US officials confirmed earlier this week, after several outlets claimed that Kiev has already begun using the weapon against Russian targets far behind the frontlines.

The “goal” of supplying Ukraine with longer-range missiles was to put more pressure on Crimea, “where, right now, Russia has had relatively safe haven,” the NYT wrote on Thursday, citing an unnamed US defense official.

The US delivered the ATACMS missiles, believed to have a range of up to 300 kilometers, to Ukraine as part of a $300-million arms package approved by President Joe Bidenin mid-March. On Wednesday, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed the delivery, but US officials have refused to comment on the exact modification and range of the weapon.

On the morning of April 17, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said his forces had attacked an airbase in Dzhankoy, Crimea, after media reports alleged that Kiev used the missiles for the first time in the attack on the airfield about 165 kilometers (103 miles) from the frontline. The Russian Defense Ministry has not commented on the claim.

Ukraine first received mid-range ATACMS last September. The Russian military quickly began shooting them down, however, thwarting Zelensky’s plan to damage or destroy the Crimean Bridge. Earlier this month, Zelensky reiterated that he and his government “really want to destroy Russian infrastructure,” including the Crimean Bridge.

“I think the time is right, and the boss [Biden] made the decision the time is right to provide these based on where the fight is right now,” vice-chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, Adm Christopher Grady, told AP on Wednesday. “I think it was a very well considered decision, and we really wrung it out.”

READ MORE: Biden team doubts US aid will help Ukraine win – Politico

The delivery of long-range missiles to Kiev is “impossible to justify,” Russia’s Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov said on Thursday. The move by Washington “increases the threat to the security of Crimea, including Sevastopol, the new Russian regions and other Russian cities,” he added.

Crimea voted overwhelmingly to join the Russian Federation in 2014, six decades after the historically Russian peninsula was transferred to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in an administrative decision by Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev. In September 2022, four former Ukrainian regions – the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Kherson, and Zaporozhye – were also admitted to the Russian Federation after similar referendums. 

Kiev declared the referendums a “sham” and has been pushing for its own “peace formula” under which Russia would withdraw its troops not only from the four regions but from Crimea as well before any talks can start.

The body urged more restrictions on the heavily-sanctioned country, while calling for “de-escalation” in the Middle East

The European Parliament passed a resolution on Thursday condemning recent Iranian drone and missile strikes on Israel and calling for new sanctions against Tehran.

The resolution was backed by an overwhelming majority, with 357 MEPs voting in favor and only 20 against. It reiterated the European Parliament’s “full support for the security of the State of Israel and its citizens” and condemned Tehran’s actions.

The April 13 retaliatory strikes were prompted by a deadly attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria two weeks prior, which killed seven senior officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force.

Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the strike on the diplomatic mission. While the resolution said the MEPs “deplore the attack” on the consulate and underscore “the importance of the principle of the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises,” it did not call for any action in response. Instead, it demanded more sanctions against Iran and its partners.

“MEPs welcome the EU’s decision to expand its current sanctions regime against Iran, including by sanctioning the country’s supply and production of unmanned drones and missiles to Russia and the wider Middle East. They demand that these sanctions be urgently put in place and call for more individuals and entities to be targeted,” said the resolution.

The parliament also explicitly called for designating Iran’s elite IRGC force as a terrorist entity, arguing that this was “long overdue due to malign Iranian activities.” The Iranian-backed Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, should also be placed on the list “in its entirety,” MEPs argued, apparently referring to both the militant and political wings of the group.

The body urged more restrictions on the heavily-sanctioned country, while calling for “de-escalation” in the Middle East

The European Parliament passed a resolution on Thursday condemning recent Iranian drone and missile strikes on Israel and calling for new sanctions against Tehran.

The resolution was backed by an overwhelming majority, with 357 MEPs voting in favor and only 20 against. It reiterated the European Parliament’s “full support for the security of the State of Israel and its citizens” and condemned Tehran’s actions.

The April 13 retaliatory strikes were prompted by a deadly attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria two weeks prior, which killed seven senior officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force.

Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the strike on the diplomatic mission. While the resolution said the MEPs “deplore the attack” on the consulate and underscore “the importance of the principle of the inviolability of diplomatic and consular premises,” it did not call for any action in response. Instead, it demanded more sanctions against Iran and its partners.

“MEPs welcome the EU’s decision to expand its current sanctions regime against Iran, including by sanctioning the country’s supply and production of unmanned drones and missiles to Russia and the wider Middle East. They demand that these sanctions be urgently put in place and call for more individuals and entities to be targeted,” said the resolution.

The parliament also explicitly called for designating Iran’s elite IRGC force as a terrorist entity, arguing that this was “long overdue due to malign Iranian activities.” The Iranian-backed Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, should also be placed on the list “in its entirety,” MEPs argued, apparently referring to both the militant and political wings of the group.

“Overcapacity” and “dual-purpose trade” are catchphrases to hide the fact that Washington is getting trounced in the economy of the future

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in China on Wednesday to kick off a three-day trip. It is reported that he will speak with his Chinese counterpart and potentially with President Xi Jinping. As the New York Times reported, quoting officials privy to the visit, one of the main topics will be China’s alleged support of Russia, which includes the supposed sale of weapon components and dual-use products. It also comes at a time of increased tensions. 

Relations have shown a flicker of warmth since US President Joe Biden and Xi’s encounter at the 30th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco last year. However, this visit comes sandwiched between significant moves by the Biden administration. 

On the one hand, Biden recently signed off on a hefty military aid package for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel, coupled with a divest-or-ban provision for the Chinese social media juggernaut, TikTok. On the other, a historic trilateral summit involving the US, Japan, and the Philippines hints at potential formal military collaborations down the road, with the US deploying medium-range missiles in the Philippines, a move with unmistakable implications for China.

Blinken’s trip also follows closely on the heels of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s recent visit to China, which coincided with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s presence in the country. Lavrov’s visit underscored the enduring bond between Russia and China, while Yellen’s seemed to foreshadow potential trade tensions over what Beijing perceives as baseless accusations of “overcapacity.”

Behind the diplomatic niceties lies a deeper agenda: the concerted effort by the US and some of its allies to curb China’s economic and technological ascent. This was laid bare when EU officials on Tuesday executed unannounced raids on the offices of a Chinese company in Poland and Denmark.

The European Commission said that its “unannounced inspections” are based on “indications that the inspected company may have received foreign subsidies that could distort the internal market pursuant to the Foreign Subsidies Regulation.” Despite this explanation, it appears the EU is mirroring Washington’s growing scrutiny of and hostility against Chinese firms. The EU’s alignment with the US on trade policy, particularly regarding China, signals a loose front aimed at constraining China’s global economic reach.

The issue of Russia is also another excuse to limit China. The bilateral partnership has been extraordinarily beneficial for both sides: their trade reached a record $240.1 billion in 2023, and Russia’s economy grew by 3.6% the same year despite Western sanctions. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts Russia’s economy will grow faster than all advanced economies in 2024.

This is due in no small part to trade with China, the world’s second-largest economy, but it’s also due to the fact that many other large countries, such as Brazil and India, have not joined Western sanctions on Russia – they just aren’t trading in strategic sectors of the economy like China is. But even in those sectors, the US and its allies have never revealed evidence that Beijing is directly helping Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.

What it’s really about was revealed in 2021 when US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo stated bluntly that “we (the US) need to work with Europe” to “slow down China’s rate of innovation.” Even during the administration of former President Donald Trump, the US was strong-arming European countries to implement bans on Huawei and attempting to bully others into signing public tenders with US companies over Chinese competitors.

The idea was that without the ability to compete globally, Chinese firms in the high-tech sphere would inevitably become less profitable and, thus, less innovative. But this is not the case, in fact. While Western countries attempt to control the narrative with accusations of unfair trade practices and military equipment sales, the reality is that Chinese firms continue to dominate global markets in crucial sectors like solar power, telecommunications, and electric vehicles.

They are simply implementing protectionist policies to prop up their own companies while failing to take concrete steps to actually compete in the market. But for Europe, it should be noted how one-sided this is. The continent is reliant on US tech; the EU’s GDP advantage has crumbled over the past decade-and-a-half since the 2008 financial crash; and it is becoming strategically compromised due to US influence and a lack of domestic innovation.

In essence, the diplomatic dance between Blinken and his Chinese counterparts encapsulates a broader struggle for supremacy in a rapidly evolving world order. Overcapacity is a myth; China has the best industrial base in the world and shouldn’t be ashamed of it. Accusations of assisting in war efforts – made even more absurd by America’s open support for Israel’s operation in Gaza, which has been credibly accused of genocide – are just noise. The US and its underlings are simply just getting beat in almost every meaningful sphere, which will make Antony Blinken’s job especially tough this week.

“Overcapacity” and “dual-purpose trade” are catchphrases to hide the fact that Washington is getting trounced in the economy of the future

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in China on Wednesday to kick off a three-day trip. It is reported that he will speak with his Chinese counterpart and potentially with President Xi Jinping. As the New York Times reported, quoting officials privy to the visit, one of the main topics will be China’s alleged support of Russia, which includes the supposed sale of weapon components and dual-use products. It also comes at a time of increased tensions. 

Relations have shown a flicker of warmth since US President Joe Biden and Xi’s encounter at the 30th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco last year. However, this visit comes sandwiched between significant moves by the Biden administration. 

On the one hand, Biden recently signed off on a hefty military aid package for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel, coupled with a divest-or-ban provision for the Chinese social media juggernaut, TikTok. On the other, a historic trilateral summit involving the US, Japan, and the Philippines hints at potential formal military collaborations down the road, with the US deploying medium-range missiles in the Philippines, a move with unmistakable implications for China.

Blinken’s trip also follows closely on the heels of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s recent visit to China, which coincided with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s presence in the country. Lavrov’s visit underscored the enduring bond between Russia and China, while Yellen’s seemed to foreshadow potential trade tensions over what Beijing perceives as baseless accusations of “overcapacity.”

Behind the diplomatic niceties lies a deeper agenda: the concerted effort by the US and some of its allies to curb China’s economic and technological ascent. This was laid bare when EU officials on Tuesday executed unannounced raids on the offices of a Chinese company in Poland and Denmark.

The European Commission said that its “unannounced inspections” are based on “indications that the inspected company may have received foreign subsidies that could distort the internal market pursuant to the Foreign Subsidies Regulation.” Despite this explanation, it appears the EU is mirroring Washington’s growing scrutiny of and hostility against Chinese firms. The EU’s alignment with the US on trade policy, particularly regarding China, signals a loose front aimed at constraining China’s global economic reach.

The issue of Russia is also another excuse to limit China. The bilateral partnership has been extraordinarily beneficial for both sides: their trade reached a record $240.1 billion in 2023, and Russia’s economy grew by 3.6% the same year despite Western sanctions. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts Russia’s economy will grow faster than all advanced economies in 2024.

This is due in no small part to trade with China, the world’s second-largest economy, but it’s also due to the fact that many other large countries, such as Brazil and India, have not joined Western sanctions on Russia – they just aren’t trading in strategic sectors of the economy like China is. But even in those sectors, the US and its allies have never revealed evidence that Beijing is directly helping Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.

What it’s really about was revealed in 2021 when US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo stated bluntly that “we (the US) need to work with Europe” to “slow down China’s rate of innovation.” Even during the administration of former President Donald Trump, the US was strong-arming European countries to implement bans on Huawei and attempting to bully others into signing public tenders with US companies over Chinese competitors.

The idea was that without the ability to compete globally, Chinese firms in the high-tech sphere would inevitably become less profitable and, thus, less innovative. But this is not the case, in fact. While Western countries attempt to control the narrative with accusations of unfair trade practices and military equipment sales, the reality is that Chinese firms continue to dominate global markets in crucial sectors like solar power, telecommunications, and electric vehicles.

They are simply implementing protectionist policies to prop up their own companies while failing to take concrete steps to actually compete in the market. But for Europe, it should be noted how one-sided this is. The continent is reliant on US tech; the EU’s GDP advantage has crumbled over the past decade-and-a-half since the 2008 financial crash; and it is becoming strategically compromised due to US influence and a lack of domestic innovation.

In essence, the diplomatic dance between Blinken and his Chinese counterparts encapsulates a broader struggle for supremacy in a rapidly evolving world order. Overcapacity is a myth; China has the best industrial base in the world and shouldn’t be ashamed of it. Accusations of assisting in war efforts – made even more absurd by America’s open support for Israel’s operation in Gaza, which has been credibly accused of genocide – are just noise. The US and its underlings are simply just getting beat in almost every meaningful sphere, which will make Antony Blinken’s job especially tough this week.

Purchases of Bibles or searches for “MAGA” and Trump were considered indicators of “extremism”

Republicans in the House of Representatives have sent letters to 13 financial institutions they suspect of colluding with the FBI and the Treasury Department to spy on Americans without a warrant in relation to the 2021 Capitol riot.

Supporters of then-President Donald Trump had stormed the legislature just as Republican lawmakers were starting to register objections to certifying the 2020 election in favor of Joe Biden. Democrats labeled the unrest as an “insurrection” and sought to arrest over 1,000 people involved in any way.

Some of these people were apparently targeted by financial institutions working with the FBI and Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), according to the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, led by the Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

“The Committee and Select Subcommittee remain concerned about how and to what extent federal law enforcement and financial institutions continue to spy on Americans by weaponizing backdoor information sharing and casting sprawling classes of transactions, purchase behavior, and protected political or religious expression as potentially ‘suspicious’ or indicative of ‘extremism’,” said a letter from Jordan, which the Daily Mail obtained exclusively on Thursday.

Jordan has pointed to evidence that the FBI and FinCEN instructed banks to look for purchases of Bibles or search terms such as “Trump” or “MAGA,” the acronym for the 45th president’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”

Congress was already investigating Bank of America, Chase, US Bank, Wells Fargo, Citi Bank and Truist. Thursday’s letter was sent to Charles Schwab, HSBC, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, PayPal, Santander, Standard Chartered and Western Union. That makes 13 banks or financial institutions potentially involved in the dragnet.

Bank of America alone sent data on 211 individuals to the FBI and FinCen by January 17, 2021. However, its Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) was sent after the federal agencies asked banks to look for “extremist” purchases. Four of the 211 were tagged for a follow-up and visited by FBI agents. None of them ended up being charged with anything.

“This kind of warrantless financial surveillance raises serious concerns about the federal government’s respect for Americans’ privacy and fundamental civil liberties,” Jordan wrote in a separate letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, also obtained by the Daily Mail.

Since 2021, the FBI has targeted “radical-traditionalist Catholics” as well as parents who spoke up at school board meetings – on issues such as mask mandates or critical race theory – as potential domestic terrorists. Both programs were officially denounced after being revealed by whistleblowers.

Purchases of Bibles or searches for “MAGA” and Trump were considered indicators of “extremism”

Republicans in the House of Representatives have sent letters to 13 financial institutions they suspect of colluding with the FBI and the Treasury Department to spy on Americans without a warrant in relation to the 2021 Capitol riot.

Supporters of then-President Donald Trump had stormed the legislature just as Republican lawmakers were starting to register objections to certifying the 2020 election in favor of Joe Biden. Democrats labeled the unrest as an “insurrection” and sought to arrest over 1,000 people involved in any way.

Some of these people were apparently targeted by financial institutions working with the FBI and Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), according to the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, led by the Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

“The Committee and Select Subcommittee remain concerned about how and to what extent federal law enforcement and financial institutions continue to spy on Americans by weaponizing backdoor information sharing and casting sprawling classes of transactions, purchase behavior, and protected political or religious expression as potentially ‘suspicious’ or indicative of ‘extremism’,” said a letter from Jordan, which the Daily Mail obtained exclusively on Thursday.

Jordan has pointed to evidence that the FBI and FinCEN instructed banks to look for purchases of Bibles or search terms such as “Trump” or “MAGA,” the acronym for the 45th president’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”

Congress was already investigating Bank of America, Chase, US Bank, Wells Fargo, Citi Bank and Truist. Thursday’s letter was sent to Charles Schwab, HSBC, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, PayPal, Santander, Standard Chartered and Western Union. That makes 13 banks or financial institutions potentially involved in the dragnet.

Bank of America alone sent data on 211 individuals to the FBI and FinCen by January 17, 2021. However, its Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) was sent after the federal agencies asked banks to look for “extremist” purchases. Four of the 211 were tagged for a follow-up and visited by FBI agents. None of them ended up being charged with anything.

“This kind of warrantless financial surveillance raises serious concerns about the federal government’s respect for Americans’ privacy and fundamental civil liberties,” Jordan wrote in a separate letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, also obtained by the Daily Mail.

Since 2021, the FBI has targeted “radical-traditionalist Catholics” as well as parents who spoke up at school board meetings – on issues such as mask mandates or critical race theory – as potential domestic terrorists. Both programs were officially denounced after being revealed by whistleblowers.

Pedro Sanchez says he needs a time-out as his wife faces inquiry over influence peddling

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has suspended public duties to “stop and reflect” on whether to remain in the job, after a court opened a preliminary inquiry into alleged illegal activities by his wife.

The prime minister issued a four-page letter on Wednesday, saying he was taking a five-day break from public duties and would announce his decision to stay or quit on Monday. Sanchez has been in office since 2018 and last year secured another term for his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) as leader of a minority coalition government.

“I urgently need to answer a question that I keep asking myself: Is it worth it for me to remain [in office] in spite of the right and far-right’s mudslinging?” the PM wrote, explaining the decision on what he called “unprecedented slander and harassment.”

The announcement came hours after Spanish media reported that a Madrid judge had launched a preliminary investigation into whether the PM’s wife, Begona Gomez, had used her government connections to further her private business interests.

Carta a la ciudadanía. pic.twitter.com/c2nFxTXQTK

The court did not give details of the accusations against Gomez other than to say it had begun investigating allegations of influence peddling and corruption on April 16.

The complaint against Gomez was raised by anti-corruption campaigners Manos Limpias, or Clean Hands, who have taken part in a number of high-profile court cases in recent years. The platform is reportedly led by a man linked to the far right.

Manos Limpias put out a statement on Thursday acknowledging that its allegations might be false, because they were based on online newspaper reports. “If they are not true, it will be up to those that published them to take responsibility for the falsehood,” the platform claimed.

According to media reports, Madrid’s prosecuting authority on Thursday requested the dismissal of a corruption case against Gomez.

Sanchez said his wife would defend her honor and work with the judiciary to make clear there is no substance to the allegations against her.

Pedro Sanchez says he needs a time-out as his wife faces inquiry over influence peddling

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has suspended public duties to “stop and reflect” on whether to remain in the job, after a court opened a preliminary inquiry into alleged illegal activities by his wife.

The prime minister issued a four-page letter on Wednesday, saying he was taking a five-day break from public duties and would announce his decision to stay or quit on Monday. Sanchez has been in office since 2018 and last year secured another term for his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) as leader of a minority coalition government.

“I urgently need to answer a question that I keep asking myself: Is it worth it for me to remain [in office] in spite of the right and far-right’s mudslinging?” the PM wrote, explaining the decision on what he called “unprecedented slander and harassment.”

The announcement came hours after Spanish media reported that a Madrid judge had launched a preliminary investigation into whether the PM’s wife, Begona Gomez, had used her government connections to further her private business interests.

Carta a la ciudadanía. pic.twitter.com/c2nFxTXQTK

The court did not give details of the accusations against Gomez other than to say it had begun investigating allegations of influence peddling and corruption on April 16.

The complaint against Gomez was raised by anti-corruption campaigners Manos Limpias, or Clean Hands, who have taken part in a number of high-profile court cases in recent years. The platform is reportedly led by a man linked to the far right.

Manos Limpias put out a statement on Thursday acknowledging that its allegations might be false, because they were based on online newspaper reports. “If they are not true, it will be up to those that published them to take responsibility for the falsehood,” the platform claimed.

According to media reports, Madrid’s prosecuting authority on Thursday requested the dismissal of a corruption case against Gomez.

Sanchez said his wife would defend her honor and work with the judiciary to make clear there is no substance to the allegations against her.

Civilian oil platforms could be modified into supply depots and missile launchers

An American military contractor wants to repurpose unused oil rigs as mobile bases that would help resupply US Navy vessels in the Pacific and host missile launchers.

Gibbs & Cox, a naval architecture subsidiary of Leidos, presented the Mobile Defense/Depot Platform (MODEP) concept at the Sea Air Space 2024 exhibit in Washington, DC earlier this month.

“Our target here is to find a solution to help the challenging problem of having capacity issues in the Western Pacific. For not enough cells, not enough missiles, not enough of being able to keep those ships in the forward station,” Dave Zook, a solutions architect and combat systems department manager at Gibbs & Cox, told Naval News.

The MODEP concept refers to “a large floating island base” capable of positioning itself “at an ideal distance from shore” and independently operating for almost six months. It would be configured for either a supply function or missile launching.

The US Navy currently lacks the capability to reload its missile launchers at sea. The supply MODEP would solve this by having two cranes capable of lifting 100 tons each.

The missile base version could hold up to 512 Vertical Launch System (VLS) missile cells, or up to 100 new Large Missile Launchers (LML). The concept also “reduces risks and costs associated with land-based defense systems,” Leidos and Gibbs & Cox also said. Japan has considered using converted oil rigs as an alternative to its canceled Aegis Ashore missile defense program.

Both variants could travel at speeds of 5-8 knots to cover about 200 nautical miles a day and maintain stability even in waves up to 60 feet (20 meters) tall.

The concept calls for the MODEP to have a range of 4,000 nautical miles without refueling, generate between 6-20 megawatts of power, hold up to 2.3 million gallons (8.7 million liters) of fuel and host a maintenance and repair shop for warships.

The best part, according to Gibbs & Cox, is that there are up to six commercial oil rigs that could be converted to military use at a relatively low cost due to an “oversupply in the oil market.” The platforms could be ready within as little as two years, the company said.

Neither the Pentagon nor the Navy have officially commented on the proposal.

Civilian oil platforms could be modified into supply depots and missile launchers

An American military contractor wants to repurpose unused oil rigs as mobile bases that would help resupply US Navy vessels in the Pacific and host missile launchers.

Gibbs & Cox, a naval architecture subsidiary of Leidos, presented the Mobile Defense/Depot Platform (MODEP) concept at the Sea Air Space 2024 exhibit in Washington, DC earlier this month.

“Our target here is to find a solution to help the challenging problem of having capacity issues in the Western Pacific. For not enough cells, not enough missiles, not enough of being able to keep those ships in the forward station,” Dave Zook, a solutions architect and combat systems department manager at Gibbs & Cox, told Naval News.

The MODEP concept refers to “a large floating island base” capable of positioning itself “at an ideal distance from shore” and independently operating for almost six months. It would be configured for either a supply function or missile launching.

The US Navy currently lacks the capability to reload its missile launchers at sea. The supply MODEP would solve this by having two cranes capable of lifting 100 tons each.

The missile base version could hold up to 512 Vertical Launch System (VLS) missile cells, or up to 100 new Large Missile Launchers (LML). The concept also “reduces risks and costs associated with land-based defense systems,” Leidos and Gibbs & Cox also said. Japan has considered using converted oil rigs as an alternative to its canceled Aegis Ashore missile defense program.

Both variants could travel at speeds of 5-8 knots to cover about 200 nautical miles a day and maintain stability even in waves up to 60 feet (20 meters) tall.

The concept calls for the MODEP to have a range of 4,000 nautical miles without refueling, generate between 6-20 megawatts of power, hold up to 2.3 million gallons (8.7 million liters) of fuel and host a maintenance and repair shop for warships.

The best part, according to Gibbs & Cox, is that there are up to six commercial oil rigs that could be converted to military use at a relatively low cost due to an “oversupply in the oil market.” The platforms could be ready within as little as two years, the company said.

Neither the Pentagon nor the Navy have officially commented on the proposal.

The Israeli Prime Minister has denounced as anti-Semitic the growing surge of pro-Palestine protests at American universities

Pro-Palestinian protests sweeping across university campuses in the US are anti-Semitic and must be stopped, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said, claiming that mobs have been attacking Jewish students and faculty members.

His comments come after US police arrested more than 80 protesters on Wednesday in a crackdown on the pro-Palestine demonstrations taking place at some 21 universities in states like Massachusetts, California and New York, among others.

The students have been demanding that the US government cease all funding for the Israeli military and “stop giving them any more money to continue this genocide,” referring to the ongoing Israeli offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza.

In a video published on his X account on Wednesday, Netanyahu said that the protests on America’s college campuses are “horrific” and claimed that “anti-Semitic mobs have taken over leading universities” and are calling for “the annihilation of Israel.”

“This is reminiscent of what happened in German universities in the 1930s. It’s unconscionable. It has to be stopped. It has to be condemned and condemned unequivocally,” the prime minister said, in an apparent reference to the Nazi Student League, which persecuted German students and university faculty members who were not of Aryan descent or were considered political opponents of the Nazi regime.

The Israeli leader also slammed what he called the “shameful” response of some university presidents to the protests. “More has to be done,” Netanyahu urged, saying there has been an “exponential rise of antisemitism throughout America and throughout Western societies.”

The Israeli leader also claimed the student protesters “want to kill Jews wherever they are” and are chanting slogans like “Death to the Jews.”

Earlier this week, Rabbi Elie Buechler urged Jewish students of New York’s prestigious Columbia University to stay home, claiming they were no longer safe amid ongoing pro-Palestinian protests. That was after a group of Jewish counter-protesters on Sunday got into an altercation with demonstrators from a Gaza Solidarity Encampment on university grounds.

READ MORE: Rabbi tells Jews to leave prestigious American university

The White House has denounced any “calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community.”

Activists, however, have denied that the protests are anti-Semitic and say many Jewish students and organizations are involved in organizing the demonstrations. Hundreds of Columbia faculty members staged a walkout on Monday to criticize the university leadership and to express their solidarity with the protesters, after the university president called police to the campus.

History professor Christopher Brown branded the move as “unprecedented, unjustified, disproportionate, divisive and dangerous.”

A surge of demonstrations followed the deadly attack on Israel by the Palestinian armed group Hamas last October. The students are protesting Israel’s relentless retaliatory bombardment of Gaza, which has caused unprecedented destruction in the enclave and has left more than 34,000 dead, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Environmentalist diehards reportedly manipulated experts’ conclusions to fit their own agenda

Top-ranking German government officials from the Ministry of Economic Affairs intentionally falsified experts’ reports to make it look like nuclear power was no longer viable in the country, Cicero magazine reported on Thursday.

Citing internal documents and e-mails it obtained via a court order, the media outlet claims that long-time Green Party proponents of a nuclear phase-out in high positions swept reports under the rug, or altered them, if they ran counter to their ideological convictions.

Following the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant in March 2011, Germany’s parliament voted in favor of shutting down all similar facilities in the country. In April 2023, Germany’s last three operational nuclear power plants were taken offline.

In the article, Cicero claims that Patrick Graichen and Stefan Tidow, then-undersecretaries at the Economy and Environment ministries respectively, played a key role in the effort to portray the prolongation of German nuclear power plants’ operational life as dangerous.

The two allegedly conspired to prevent their respective bosses from getting acquainted with any technical reports that refuted this assumption. According to the article, these documents dated March 2022 clearly pointed out that with starkly diminishing Russian gas imports, an “extension of the nuclear power plants’ operational life” could have alleviated the dire situation in Germany’s energy sector and prevented prices from skyrocketing in the coming winter.

However, the Green higher-ups, unhappy with this conclusion, allegedly rewrote the document, ramming home the message that any prolongation of the remaining nuclear power plants’ operation “is not tenable on technical-security grounds.”

Cicero claims that Economy Minister Robert Habeck most likely only saw the reworked version of the report, and not the original.

Faced with the threat of looming energy deficits, on October 17, Chancellor Olaf Scholz ordered the remaining three nuclear power plants to remain operational throughout the winter, despite warnings coming out of the Economy and Environment ministries. However, as Cicero notes, the overall trend toward the total phasing out of nuclear power-generation has remained unchanged.

READ MORE: German industry ‘moving abroad’ – Bild

With energy prices on the rise, Germany’s prized industrial sector has found itself increasingly at a disadvantage, with one in three manufacturers considering moving production overseas as a result, Bild reported in February.

Environmentalist diehards reportedly manipulated experts’ conclusions to fit their own agenda

Top-ranking German government officials from the Ministry of Economic Affairs intentionally falsified experts’ reports to make it look like nuclear power was no longer viable in the country, Cicero magazine reported on Thursday.

Citing internal documents and e-mails it obtained via a court order, the media outlet claims that long-time Green Party proponents of a nuclear phase-out in high positions swept reports under the rug, or altered them, if they ran counter to their ideological convictions.

Following the disaster at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant in March 2011, Germany’s parliament voted in favor of shutting down all similar facilities in the country. In April 2023, Germany’s last three operational nuclear power plants were taken offline.

In the article, Cicero claims that Patrick Graichen and Stefan Tidow, then-undersecretaries at the Economy and Environment ministries respectively, played a key role in the effort to portray the prolongation of German nuclear power plants’ operational life as dangerous.

The two allegedly conspired to prevent their respective bosses from getting acquainted with any technical reports that refuted this assumption. According to the article, these documents dated March 2022 clearly pointed out that with starkly diminishing Russian gas imports, an “extension of the nuclear power plants’ operational life” could have alleviated the dire situation in Germany’s energy sector and prevented prices from skyrocketing in the coming winter.

However, the Green higher-ups, unhappy with this conclusion, allegedly rewrote the document, ramming home the message that any prolongation of the remaining nuclear power plants’ operation “is not tenable on technical-security grounds.”

Cicero claims that Economy Minister Robert Habeck most likely only saw the reworked version of the report, and not the original.

Faced with the threat of looming energy deficits, on October 17, Chancellor Olaf Scholz ordered the remaining three nuclear power plants to remain operational throughout the winter, despite warnings coming out of the Economy and Environment ministries. However, as Cicero notes, the overall trend toward the total phasing out of nuclear power-generation has remained unchanged.

READ MORE: German industry ‘moving abroad’ – Bild

With energy prices on the rise, Germany’s prized industrial sector has found itself increasingly at a disadvantage, with one in three manufacturers considering moving production overseas as a result, Bild reported in February.

Americans are having far fewer babies for a large number of reasons

Women in the US are having children at the lowest rate since record-keeping began, the National Center for Health Statistics has revealed. Only 3.59 million births were recorded in the country in 2023, the lowest since the 3.4 million figure recorded in 1979, a report by the NCHS has noted. The US population was 225 million at the time, compared to almost 335 million now. 

The general fertility rate fell 3% from the year before to 54.4 births per 1,000 women of childbearing age (defined as 15–44). The total fertility rate was just 1.61, down 2% from 2022. The US birth rate has been below the replacement level of 2.1 since 2007. 

Unplanned pregnancies – mostly among teenagers – have fallen by 2% from the previous year, representing a 68% decline from 2007 levels. Birth rates for the 20-24 age bracket have dropped by almost 50% since 2007 as well. The only demographic that saw an increase in birth rates was Hispanic women, with a modest 1% gain from 2022. 

The NCHS is a unit of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It relies on birth certificates to provide a snapshot of US population trends and does not look at the underlying factors, said Brady Hamilton, the lead author of the report.

Karen Guzzo, a demographer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has pointed to research that shows young Americans are delaying family formation for financial reasons. Among the factors Americans have cited for waiting or not having children at all are economic strain, work instability, political polarization, student loans, healthcare cost and accessibility, climate change and global conflicts, Guzzo told the Wall Street Journal.

US birth rates rose slightly right before the 2008 financial crisis, but have declined by 11% overall since 2000. Guzzo has pointed to “unstable work hours” and lack of paid leave in the “gig economy” that has arisen since the Great Recession. 

Demographers such as Guzzo have argued that Americans need paid family leave and other benefits to promote the standard of living for young families. US surveys have persistently shown frustration with the “skyrocketing” cost of healthcare and childcare as well.

Birth rates in many wealthy nations with arguably better social support have been declining as well, however, which demographers have commonly attributed to “uncertainty” and “economic instability.” Meanwhile, the countries with the highest birth rates in the world in 2023 were all in sub-Saharan Africa: Niger (6.73), Angola (5.76) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (5.56).