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Rishi Sunak has cited the importance of border security and controlling illegal migration as reasons to leave

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak threatened on Wednesday to abandon the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) if it tries to block the UK’s efforts to fight illegal migration by sending asylum-seekers to Rwanda for processing.

In an interview with The Sun, Sunak said border control and state security should take precedence over the UK’s 71-year adherence to the European Convention on Human Rights, which the court enforces.

“I believe that border security and controlling illegal migration is more important than our membership of any foreign court,” Sunak said, adding that it was “fundamental to our sovereignty as a country” and that he may make it an election pledge later this year.

The UK has been struggling against the flow of illegal migration for years with successive Conservative prime ministers pledging crackdowns to address the issue. The country’s exit from the EU in 2016 was partly attributed to a desire to regain control of the nation’s borders.

“I come from a family of immigrants – and I think this will always be a welcoming, compassionate country – but that has to be done fairly, it has to be done legally,” the prime minister said. “We are a people who wait their turn, pay their fair share, play by the rules, and this offends every one of those notions. That’s why it’s so important that we grip it.”

In April 2022, London reached an agreement with Rwanda, located in Central Africa, for illegal migrants to be sent there, but in June of the same year the first flight was canceled by decision of the ECHR.

Later that year, Dominic Raab, then deputy prime minister, introduced legislation that would make the Supreme Court in London the final arbiter on human rights issues and allow the UK to ignore decisions by the ECHR. London and Kigali later extended the deal, applying it to those who entered the country by crossing the English Channel by boat, and cannot be sent back to their country of origin.

In February, however, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned that the British government’s draft legislation declaring Rwanda a safe country in which to resettle asylum seekers violates principles of the rule of law.

The UK is one of the founding members of the ECHR, becoming the first country to ratify the convention back in 1951.

Several European countries are reportedly worried that an effort to extend aid for Kiev will give the bloc even more power

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg’s idea to create a long-term €100 billion ($107 billion) plan to support Ukraine has sparked a lot of doubt within the organization, with many wondering where it came from in the first place, Politico reported on Wednesday.

The head of the US-led bloc previously urged NATO allies to “shift the dynamics of our support” for Ukraine which has repeatedly complained of the lack of Western-supplied ammunition and weapons while being hard-pressed by Russian troops.

To this end, the secretary-general proposed ensuring “reliable and predictable security assistance to Ukraine for the long haul” which he said must be based on NATO’s long-term commitments rather than voluntary donations.

This came after several Western media reported that Stoltenberg wanted to draw up a five-year €100 billion package of military aid to Kiev, which would also see NATO take on more responsibility for coordinating the assistance to Ukraine from the US. He has declined to go into specifics however, and has not confirmed the figure, suggesting that the details will be hashed out by this summer.

Politico also reported that while top officials in countries such as Poland, Türkiye, and Germany have endorsed the initiative, some were much less enthusiastic. According to one of the outlet’s sources, some ministers from undisclosed countries “rolled their eyes” at the 100 billion number, unsure where it came from.

The article also says that several Western European nations fear that the plan would give NATO even more clout and undermine EU efforts to boost its own role in the defense sphere. It also remains unclear whether the sum would be attained through fresh contributions, or cobbled together from already existing programs.

Some Western diplomats also pointed out that debates over the plan are at an early stage, with some saying they would like to see the details first before supporting the initiative. However, Hungary turned out to be a notable exception, with Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto insisting that Budapest will oppose any moves that could lead to escalation.

Russia has repeatedly condemned Western arms shipments to Ukraine, warning they will only prolong the conflict without changing its outcome. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has described NATO as “an aggressive bloc” using Ukraine as a tool to undermine Moscow.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro sees Washington’s actions close to his country’s borders as “aggression”

The United States has installed “secret military bases” in the disputed region of Essequibo, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro claimed on Thursday.

The Latin American leader was speaking at a ceremony commemorating a recent law defending Guyana Essequibo. The 62,000-square-mile oil- and mineral-rich area around the Essequibo River is at the center of a territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana, a former British colony.

“We have information proving that, in the territory of Guyana Essequibo, temporarily administered by Guyana, secret military bases of the [US] Southern Command... a body of the CIA, have been installed,” Maduro said.

The bases constitute “aggression” against the people of southern and eastern Venezuela, and were built “to prepare for an escalation against Venezuela,” he added.

The US Southern Command, part of the Department of Defense, maintains a Security Cooperation Office in Guyana, and serves as a military consultant to the Guyana Defense Force, providing military support and training.

Following a national referendum at the beginning of December, Caracas laid claim to Guayana Esequiba – a mostly forested region that Venezuela claims to have owned for over a century. Guyana has protested, noting that the area amounts to two-thirds of its internationally recognized territory, and has asked the international community for help.

The dispute over the Essequibo area intensified in 2015 after US-based energy giant ExxonMobil discovered oil deposits there. After December’s referendum, US forces held joint US-Guyana military exercises. The British Royal Navy deployed patrol ship HMS Trent to Guyana in January to show its backing for the country.

According to Maduro, the disputed region is being controlled by the Southern Command, the CIA, and ExxonMobil, which are seeking to seize Venezuelan resources.

Washington and London are claiming Beijing sponsored a cybercrime campaign against them three years ago. Why did they wait until now?

In March, the UK, in conjunction with the US and other members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, accused China of engaging in a state-sponsored hacking campaign against them. In response to the alleged 'attack' they launched coordinated sanctions against a small group of hackers and their associated businesses.

The sanctions were particularly big news in Britain, where the government suddenly decided that Beijing had been behind a hack on the electoral commission three years ago. Notably, the country’s Conservative party-aligned newspapers all pushed this narrative in an aggressive fashion.

These accusations by the Five Eyes nations are not so much genuine concerns as they are a deliberate and opportunistic act of political theatre which, largely driven by the US, seeks to slander China for diplomatic and political gain. The sanctions, although narrow in scope and thus meaningless, are designed to try and send a message to and about China. It is essentially a fearmongering campaign, which seeks to both undermine Beijing’s engagement with other countries and serve domestic political purposes in the US.

The rhythm of US escalation and de-escalation with China

The US has an adept foreign policy whereby it intentionally chooses to escalate and de-escalate tensions with China at opportune moments, which is precisely why calls for “engagement” with Beijing coming from Washington D.C. cannot be trusted. The US does not change its goals or its policies, only its tactics in consideration of what suits it at that particular moment. Hence it has always alternated between overtures and deliberate provocations. It usually does so by having a certain report or development leaked to the media at an opportunistic time, in order to craft a particular narrative which mandates a certain set of reactions and policy responses.

To give some examples of such, the Trump administration played down tensions with China directly in 2019, even amidst the Hong Kong crisis, in order to secure a “trade deal” with Beijing. Once it got what it wanted by 2020, and the Covid-19 pandemic struck, it deliberately unleashed a full-on crusade against Beijing on every front. Similarly, the Biden administration came into office and then immediately upped tensions with China on the Xinjiang issue in order to damage China’s ties with Europe in a build-up to coordinated sanctions as a display of transatlantic unity.

After this was done, it then decided it wanted to “cool” things down for a bit and establish “guardrails” so the rhetoric guns went silent for a few months as Washington reached out to Beijing. Then, as the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics came, it took the “Xinjiang card” off the shelf again with a number of timed leaks and publications geared towards supporting a Winter Olympics boycott, as well as a sweeping ban on all Xinjiang goods under the premise of “forced labour” at that time.

What we see is that the US does not truly de-escalate with China, it “blows hot and cold” and essentially manipulates the media cycle to pursue its policy preferences as it sees fit. This means that major issues pertaining to China only tend to appear when there is an agenda serving it.

The newest phase

Now, the Biden administration has made a political design to escalate tensions with China by accusing it, in coordination with the Five Eyes, of state-backed hacking and cybercrime. The fact that the British government would sit on such an accusation for three years suggests both clear political purpose and timing. The question is, why? First, we are approaching a Presidential election in the US. It was always an inevitability that the administration would want to appear “tough” on China to prevent the issue from being used as an attack point by Biden’s rival, Donald Trump. As seen in 2020, an election year tends to become a year of very aggressive rhetoric and extreme theatrics.

Secondly, there is the goal of undermining China’s engagement with Europe. It has been publicly announced that Xi Jinping will visit a number of European countries in May, including France. As stated above, the US, with the support of the Five Eyes countries, actively seeks to damage Chinese diplomacy with Europe by weaponizing negative publicity in order to narrow political space for engagement.

What we see from this is that the US engages China on its own terms, but seeks to prevent those it deems as “allies” from doing the same, and thus resorts to psychological warfare through the manipulation of mass media.

In conclusion, when one sees these strategies being utilised, one recognises that the Western media has far less independence and impartiality than it claims to have, but is indirectly subject to the preferences of US policy. W

hen the White House says “jump”, reporters ask, “how high?” and thus we see that a new propaganda campaign has been cultivated against Beijing, but of course, we should not be blind to the reality that there is no greater weaponisation of cyberspace and espionage in the world than the system created by the Five Eyes. And are we really going to pretend the CIA doesn’t hack anyone?

The killing of foreign aid workers in Gaza has reignited calls for a halt to supply of British weaponry

The UK is facing renewed calls to stop exporting arms to Israel, following the deadly bombing by the country’s military of a humanitarian convoy in Gaza, media outlets are reporting.

On Monday, seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers, mostly foreigners and including three British nationals, were killed by Israeli airstrikes that were purportedly targeting a Hamas militant. The incident has sparked international condemnation.

Peter Ricketts, former national security adviser to then-Prime Minister, now-Foreign Secretary David Cameron, stated on Wednesday in comments on the incident that Britain had now “reached that point.” He urged the UK to send a “signal” to Israel that it has not been taking its obligations under international law seriously enough.

“Sometimes in conflict you get a moment where there is such global outrage that it crystallizes a sense that things can’t go on like this. I hope that this awful incident will serve that purpose,” Ricketts told the BBC.

Britain’s main opposition parties demanded on Wednesday that the Conservative government publish legal advice it has received on whether Israel has broken international humanitarian law during the war in Gaza.

David Lammy, foreign affairs spokesman for the opposition Labour Party, said “there are very serious accusations that Israel has breached international law.”

He called on the government to “publish the legal advice now,” claiming that “if it says there is a clear risk that UK arms might be used in a serious breach of international humanitarian law, it’s time to suspend the sale of those arms.” 

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak did not commit to publishing the legal advice, but said that London followed a strict “set of rules, regulations and procedures” over licensing arms exports.

UK ministers say defense sales to Israel were worth about £42 million ($53 million) in 2022. According to the Campaign Against Arms Trade, a group lobbying for an end to sales of weapons, the UK has approved at least £474 million ($560 million) in exports to Israel since 2015.

Those exports reportedly include parts for missiles, tanks and combat aircraft, including tires, ejector seats, fan propellers and laser targeting equipment for jets being used in Gaza.

Britain is also involved in making parts for American-made F-35 fighter jets that are used by the Israeli air force, according to arms-control expert Roy Isbister of campaign group Saferworld.

“The UK produces 15% of every F-35, and so if the UK says ‘no’ to exports, that does become significant, and an issue for Israeli capabilities which would risk upsetting the Americans,” Isbister told The National.

The EU and the US consider Serbia an easy target

Modern international politics, as practiced by Western countries, sometimes take on a completely absurd character. Recently, the Political Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) approved the membership of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo in the Council of Europe. Let us remember that we are talking about a territory that is not a state recognized by all members of the international community, including many of PACE’s own participants. Additionally, its leaders are rightly suspected of cross-border criminal activity of the worst kind.

But should we be surprised?

It has long been no secret that all the so-called pan-European organizations have effectively become instruments of the United States and the European Union, whose sole purpose is to promote some of their policies towards the rest of the world. It can be security, in which case the OSCE is involved, or human rights, for which the Council of Europe is used. Even environmental policy is in the hands of the West - that, too, is a purely political story.

In other words, absolutely everything is used to create endless pressure on those with whom the US and the EU are currently facing off against. We recall, for example, a case in which one of the European Parliament’s resolutions on the elections in Russia included a reference to the need for Moscow to lift sanitary restrictions on vegetable products from an EU country.

It is not surprising that all institutions and agreements in which the West has a dominant position lose their original meaning over time. No-one in Washington, Brussels, Berlin or Paris really remembers why the OSCE or the Council of Europe were created. This may seem like a joke, and an exaggeration. However, many years of experience in dealing with our American and Western European colleagues have make it abundantly clear that they have such a distorted perception.

This is partly due to the almost total impunity with which the West has operated since the Cold War. It is also due to the fact that all these institutions were created to serve the very specific selfish goals of the US and EU. We in Russia, like many others, once genuinely believed that international politics could develop along the lines of new principles after the Cold War. But it turned out that this was not the case. 

Where the West is aware of its irresponsibility, it acts as if we are not even in the 19th century, but in the 17th or 18th century. Moreover, the Balkans are indeed a very special topic for Brussels and Washington. If the West was cynical about its post-Cold War “legacy”, it was doubly so about the former Yugoslavia.

In relations with Russia, and even with the rest of the former Soviet Union, the US and Western Europe still tried, or pretended to try, to maintain a certain ceremonialism, to make a show of the relative equality of their partners. At one stage, Russia was even invited to participate in the G8, the main body for coordinating Western policy towards the outside world. Of course, we are well aware that all these ritualistic actions meant very little in practice. In the mid-1990s, for example, no one in the West hid the fact that the activities of the Council of Europe were nothing more than a nice backdrop for putting pressure on Russia and other “post-Soviet” countries. From the point of view of formalities and ritual declarations, however, everything looked civilized for a long time. Russia was even able to use certain instruments of the Council of Europe – very limitedly, of course, and where it did not interfere with the US, EU or the nationalist regimes in the Baltic republics under their tutelage.

We should hardly be surprised that a gang of organ traffickers has been admitted to the Council of Europe. This is quite natural, after all the support the Baltic regimes have received from Brussels and Washington. Their policies towards minorities and freedom are basically similar to the most radical examples of 100 years ago.

Serbia’s prime minister responded by saying that his country might withdraw from PACE. But there are serious doubts that Belgrade will ultimately decide to do so.

First, if a Serbian politician openly opposes Western dictates, he puts the lives of his citizens directly at risk from the same Kosovar militants and religious fanatics. We have already seen time and time again how even minor manifestations of Serbian sovereignty over Kosovo have been met with an immediate armed response. This was followed by the strongest warnings from Brussels and Washington. Secondly, a formal expression of discontent with the EU by Belgrade would likely immediately lead to open or undeclared sanctions against Serbia. We do not know the structure of the country’s foreign trade well enough, but even the obstruction of transport and logistics routes would probably cause irreparable damage to it.

So with the republic surrounded on all sides by NATO countries, the consequences for the Serbian economy and population would be very dramatic. Despite the fact that the vast majority of Serbs believe that Kosovo is part of their sovereign territory, the ruling party would be doomed to lose the next elections. This is for two reasons: first, because of the worsening economic situation, and then because of the new concessions to the West that it would have to make in order to achieve a softening of the pressure from Washington and Brussels. In the same case, if Belgrade decided to do what it wants, everything would end very tragically for it.

After all, past experience tells us that the US and EU are unlikely to mind if another failed state appears in Europe. 

For all the mistakes and ambiguities of President Alexander Vucic and his government’s position on Russia, it has so far done relatively well at the only task it can really control – which is prolonging the uncertain state of affairs. Moreover, it has generally been quite neighborly in its dealings with us, especially given Belgrade’s geopolitical position.

The state of Western attitudes towards Serbia and its people is really interesting, because it reflects an irrational hatred that is not easy to explain. Perhaps it is a matter of psychology and perception – Americans and Western Europeans may see the Serbs as “Russians” who are weaker and can be defeated. They are much smaller than Russia, disproportionately weaker, and surrounded by zones of total NATO influence.

In this case, what is happening in the Balkans is a very pertinent, if tragic, example for Russia of what would happen to us if we were forced to surrender. The decades that have passed since NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia, not to mention Belgrade’s constant declarations about moving towards “European” integration, cannot cure the complex of triumph over a defeated enemy. 

Serbia, of course, is not likely to join the EU or NATO. But it is very possible that it will survive the pressure from these extremely aggressive blocs. That is what we will have to see in the next decade.

The chief of the US-led bloc has reportedly suggested a five-year, $107 billion plan to provide Kiev with weapons

Ukraine should be able to enjoy a stable stream of Western arms supplies in the long term rather than relying on voluntary donations, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said.

Speaking ahead of the NATO foreign ministers summit in Brussels on Wednesday, the bloc’s chief stressed that Kiev – which has repeatedly complained of a lack of ammunition and weapons – “has urgent needs,” while warning that any delays in assistance would have consequences on the battlefield.

In this light, Stoltenberg urged NATO allies to “shift the dynamics of our support.” “We must ensure reliable and predictable security assistance to Ukraine for the long haul. So that we rely less on voluntary contributions and more on NATO commitments,” he said, adding that those pledges would have to last for at least several years. “We will also discuss a multi-year financial commitment to sustain our support,” NATO boss added. 

According to Reuters, to secure long-term support for Kiev, Stoltenberg had proposed a five-year €100 billion ($107 billion) package of military aid to Ukraine. Under the plan, the US-led military bloc would also reportedly take on more responsibility for coordinating the assistance to Kiev from the US amid concerns that the reelection of GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump could undermine the Western campaign to support Ukraine.

When asked about the specifics of the plan, Stoltenberg declined to go into the details, adding that he did not expect it to be fully fleshed out in the near future. “We will hopefully move forward towards consensus, and then we will have an agreement in place by the summit” in Washington this summer, he noted.

Russia has repeatedly condemned Western arms shipments to Ukraine, saying that they will only prolong the conflict and that Kiev will not be able to exist without foreign support.

On Tuesday, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolay Patrushev, argued that NATO is seeking to retain control over Ukraine in a bid to use it as an “anti-Russia” bridgehead, noting that the bloc has been pumping Kiev with weapons since the Western-backed coup in Kiev in 2014.

A neo-Nazi-linked activist wants the town councilor fired for observing Russia’s presidential election

The Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations has demanded that a small-town councilor be fired for traveling to Russia to observe the country’s recent presidential election and congratulating Vladimir Putin on his “transparent and comprehensive” victory. 

Adrian McRae of Port Hedland in Western Australia flew to Moscow last month as part of an international delegation to scrutinize Russia’s presidential election. A little-known councilor from a town of just 15,000 people, McRae drew attention back home when he appeared on Russian TV passing on his congratulations to Putin, who won the election with 87% of the vote.

“In my lifetime, the world has never seen such a transparent and comprehensive victory as what we saw here over the last three days,” McRae declared. 

McRae’s comments infuriated Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations (AFUO) co-chair Stefan Romanov.

“You’ve made the statements, you’ve offended people, you’ve gone against the international community, you’re trying to portray a picture that those in Russia have voted for a president who is now brutalizing Ukraine,” Romanov fumed, addressing McRae via ABC News on Tuesday.

“You know what? Go and do your work with the Russian government, go and do your work with the Russian embassy and let somebody represent the community according to community values,” Romanov added.

In addition to leading the AFUO, Romanov was the head of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists’ Stepan Bandera faction (OUN-B) from 2009 to 2022. Under Bandera and after his arrest, the OUN-B collaborated with Nazi Germany, taking part in the mass murder of Poles during World War II amid Adolf Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union. As OUN-B leader, Romanov has spoken at rallies organized by the neo-Nazi ‘Svoboda’ party in Ukraine.

Former Port Hedland Shire President Arnold Carter has joined Romanov in calling for McRae’s dismissal, while Western Australia Premier Roger Cook called the councilor’s comments “bizarre,” and encouraged “the people of Port Hedland to express their dissatisfaction with that.”

In an interview with Nine News on Monday, McRae explained that a “chance meeting” in January with Russian ambassador Alexey Pavlovsky had piqued his interest in traveling to Russia to observe the election. Fresh from winning his own local election in Port Hedland, he said that he arrived in Moscow last month with “a few, probably media-driven preconceived notions” about Russia.

“But coming back…their democracy is more transparent and more certainly more professionally run, the logistics and management of their election process leads anything I’ve seen, certainly in the West,” he told the Australian network.

Allegations that McRae and his fellow observers were “being played” by Russian authorities, or that the election itself was unfair are “not only insulting to me,” McRae said, “but I’m sure the Russian people, if they heard that, it would be an absolute slap in the face.”

McRae added that he paid his own way to Russia, and that the trip “had nothing to do with anything Port Hedland council related.”

The airstrike was a mistake, officials have admitted, following global outrage and accusations of intentional targeting

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi has described as a “grave mistake” the bombing of a humanitarian convoy in Gaza on Monday. Seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers, mostly foreigners, were killed in a three-stage strike that was reportedly intended to target a Hamas militant. The incident has sparked international condemnation.

Halevi took to X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday to apologize for the strike that left three British citizens dead, as well as a Polish and an Australian national, a Canadian-American dual citizen, and a Palestinian.

”I want to be very clear – the strike was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers. It was a mistake that followed a misidentification – at night during a war in very complex conditions. It shouldn’t have happened,” Halevi said in a video statement published on the official account of the IDF.

The general went on to describe the incident as a “grave mistake,” and said the IDF were “sorry for the unintentional harm” caused to the members of the WCK.

Another apology was issued to WCK founder Jose Andres by Israeli President Isaac Herzog. He called Andres to express “deep sorrow and sincere apologies,” the Times of Israel newspaper has reported, citing a statement from the president’s office.

The acknowledgements come after Andres lashed out at a remark made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which he suggested that such “tragic” and “unintended” incidents happen “in wartime.”

“The airstrikes on our convoy were not just some unfortunate mistake in the fog of war,” Andres wrote in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily. “It was a direct attack on clearly marked vehicles whose movements were known by the IDF.” 

Haaretz newspaper reported on Tuesday that the IDF had targeted the WCK convoy intentionally because of suspicion that a Hamas operative was traveling with the group. The outlet’s defense sources said the cars had been “clearly marked on the roof and sides” with the WCK logo, but that an IDF unit responsible for the security of the route “identified an armed man” with the group and “suspected that he was a terrorist.”

The incident drew condemnation from the international community, including from the staunchest allies of Israel, such as the US and the UK, and other nations whose citizens were among the dead.

Israel declared war on Hamas after the Palestinian militants carried out a surprise cross-border raid on October 7 last year, killing some 1,100 people and taking more than 200 hostages. The Israeli military campaign has since left nearly 33,000 people dead, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Venezuelan farmer Juan Vicente Perez Mora has passed away two months before his 115th birthday

The world’s oldest man, Juan Vicente Perez Mora, died at the age of 114 on Tuesday in Venezuela, according to local officials.

The retired farmer became the oldest living male in 2020, and was officially recognized as such by Guinness World Records in 2022, when he was 112.

Perez died two just months before his 115th birthday in Venezuelan state of Tachira, according to Governor Freddy Bernal.

“Our dear Juan Vicente Perez Mora, today with deep sadness and pain we say goodbye to you, to that archetype of a man from Tachira, humble, hard-working, peaceful, enthusiastic about family and tradition,” Bernal wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro commented on his passing, saying: “Juan Vicente Perez Mora has transcended into eternity at 114 years old.”

Perez was born in the town of El Cobre, in the Andean state of Tachira on May 27, 1909 and was the ninth of ten children. The farmer, known as Tio Vicente, began working at age five with his father and brothers, helping with the sugar cane and coffee harvest, according to a 2022 statement by the Guinness World Records.

READ MORE: Africa’s youngest elected president takes power

While still working in agriculture, Perez went on to become a sheriff in Caricuena in 1948 and was responsible for resolving land and family disputes for ten years, Guinness said. 

A father of 11 children, as of 2022 he had 42 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and 12 great-great-grandchildren.

His secret to a long life, according to Guinness World Records, was to “work hard, rest on holidays, go to bed early, drink a glass of aguardiente every day, love God, and always carry him in your heart.”

Currently the world’s oldest living person is Maria Branyas Morera, who celebrated her 117th birthday in Catalonia, Spain, last month.

The oldest person ever was French woman Jeanne Calment, who lived to the age of 122 and died in 1997, according to Guinness.

Hundreds of millions of dollars is being funneled to religious NGOs to entice and support illegal immigrants across the southern border

At a time when millions of Americans are homeless and in need of medical treatment, Washington is more concerned with playing host to millions of illegal immigrants south of the border.

How many Americans would like to receive cash debit cards, food, clothing, medical treatment, shelter, and even “humanitarian transportation” for doing absolutely nothing, aside from breaking the law? Well, sorry, because American citizens don’t qualify for the massive handout that surpasses $1.6 billion dollars, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. The freebies are going to millions of US-bound migrants in 17 Latin American nations and Mexico instead.

In what was once a matter of quiet speculation is now an open secret: the Biden administration is using hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money to fund a variety of NGO initiatives aimed at helping illegal immigrants enter the US from Latin America and Mexico.

Under the auspices of a United Nations-led “Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan (RMRP),” the US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have been sending taxpayer funds to various religious nonprofit organizations, which then dangle the juicy enticements before thousands of migrants, opening the floodgates to a wave of illegal US southern border crossings.

Exhibit number one. With an estimated 25% of the US population declaring membership in the Catholic Church, it might be expected that this denomination and its various offshoot organizations would spend the bulk of its funds tending to its American flock. Shockingly, that is not the case.

The prominent Catholic Charities USA and its various related agencies, for example, while not among those operating south of the border alongside the United Nations, receive “tens of millions of dollars in federal subsidies to oversee illegal immigrant transportation” north of the Rio Grande and resettlement operations to various sanctuary cities inside of the US.

At the same time, some 13 franchises of the nonprofit Caritas, whose website proudly pronounces that it is “inspired by the Catholic faith” and is “the helping hand of the Church,” will allocate $12.3 million to immigrants south of the border, much of it as hard cash, according to the UN database.

According to USA spending (here and here), and cited by Todd Bensman of CIS, USAID and the State Department’s PRM have doled out in excess of $11 million to the NGO Caritas Brazil, since the mass migration program started in 2021, including $3 million pledged through December 2024 to “overseas refugee assistance programs for the Western Hemisphere” that include “food, non-food items, shelter, health, [and] psychosocial support.”

It can’t go unnoticed that the same sanctuary cities that are putting illegal immigrants up in hotels while giving them free meal tickets, are the same places where thousands of tent cities overflowing with homeless people – many of them with serious medical problems and deadly addictions – have popped up over the last five years. Are the churches and various religious organizations opening their doors to these needy citizens? Judging by the deplorable state of the streets in America, it certainly doesn’t look like it, nor does the Biden administration seem to care.

Another example of a religious nonprofit serving as “co-smuggler” in the illegal trafficking of human flesh is the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which has pledged $17.1 million in assistance to immigrants in at least seven Latin American nations during 2024, according to the UN’s RMRP planning documents. In fiscal year 2022, 47% of revenue reported by HIAS was the result of grants from government organizations, primarily from the State Department, but also from the Department of Homeland Security, according to the group’s tax filings and other sources, with the rest deriving from powerful corporate sponsors and other sources.

Meanwhile, in just the last year, the State Department’s PRM and USAID have forked over to the International Organization of Migration $1.4 billion, by far the highest amount on record, according to USAspending.gov.

So what’s going on here? Why is the Biden administration so obsessed with using taxpayer dollars to fund a massive influx of illegal immigrants into the country at a time when America already has enough poor people to take care of? Is it really the case that the Democrats are working on behalf of strictly humanitarian interests, or is something else at play? When dealing with the world of politics, it’s not a bad idea to think more in terms of power, not compassion.

In a nutshell, the Biden administration hopes to attract as many illegal immigrants into the country and turn them into loyal voters so Democrats can create a permanent one-party state. And judging by the outstanding numbers, the cynical strategy just might work.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) report for fiscal 2023 shows that the number of non-detained illegal immigrants has surged from 3.7 million in FY 2021 to nearly 4.8 million in FY 2022 and almost 6.2 million in FY 2023, making Joe Biden – in cahoots with faith-based NGOs – the greatest smuggler of human beings in the history of the United States.

‘Sato’ may end up the only family name by year 2531 if married couples aren’t allowed to retain their own, research has concluded

Japanese citizens will all have the same family name in 500 years’ time unless married couples are permitted now to use separate surnames, a new study has suggested.

Organized by the Think Name Project and led by Hiroshi Yoshida, a professor of economy at Tohoku University, the study is part of a campaign to raise awareness of the implications of not amending a law dating back to the late 1800s.

If the government continues to require married couples to share the same surname then every single Japanese person will be known as ‘Sato-san’ by 2531, the research projected.

“If everyone becomes Sato, we may have to be addressed by our first names or by numbers,” Yoshida explained, according to media. “I don’t think that would be a good world to live in,” the academic added.

According to a March 2023 survey, ‘Sato’ already tops the list of Japanese last names, accounting for 1.5% of the total population, while ‘Suzuki’ comes a close second.

Japan remains the only country in the world that requires spouses to use the same name. Couples reportedly have to choose which surname to share when they marry, but in 95% of cases, it is the woman who changes her name.

The government has, nevertheless, allowed maiden names to appear alongside married names on passports, driving licenses and residence certificates.

Meanwhile, conservative members of the ruling Liberal Democratic party (LDP) argue that changing the law would “undermine” family unity and cause confusion among children.

The study, published in March but first reported-on this week, sparked speculation of an April fools’ day prank, but Yoshida said that he wanted it to make people reflect on the matter, according to The Guardian.

The US Secretary of State has criticized Kiev’s cross-border drone attacks, while France’s foreign minister has tacitly endorsed them

The US and France, two key NATO members, have failed to see eye to eye on Ukraine’s drone strikes, which are increasingly targeting facilities deep inside Russia. Standing next to each other during a press conference in Paris on Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne reacted differently to a question about the developments.

Ukraine launched drone strikes against several Russian oil facilities in March, claiming they “deliver a symbolic blow by bringing the war closer to Moscow” and disrupting the flow of fuel to the military on the front lines. The attacks continued in April, with the most recent one targeting several industrial facilities in Elabuga and Nizhnekamsk, cities in the Russian Republic of Tatarstan, earlier on Tuesday.

Blinken sought to distance himself from the situation by saying that the US had “neither supported nor enabled strikes by Ukraine outside of its territory.” Sejourne, however, appeared to be backing any move Kiev made, arguing that Ukraine was merely defending itself.

“The Ukrainian people are acting in self-defense, and we consider Russia the aggressor, and, under such circumstances, there is hardly anything else to say,” he told journalists, adding that he had no specific comments on the drone strikes. Neither of the two diplomats addressed the differences in their positions on the issue.

In late March, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky admitted that Washington had sought to stop his forces from targeting Russian oil refineries with drones. “The reaction of the US was not positive on this,” he said at that time, maintaining, however, that the US was powerless to stop the attacks.

Earlier that month, the Financial Times also reported that the White House was concerned that the Ukrainian attacks on Russian infrastructure would lead to a hike in gas prices. This could potentially damage President Joe Biden’s election bid, the paper said at the time.

Moscow responded to the Ukrainian attacks by targeting power plants across Ukraine. Zelensky then claimed that Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory were a form of deterrence, since Kiev was running out of Western-supplied air defense missiles.

What resources will Tehran be able to use in response to the attack on its consulate in Syria?

On Monday, the Israeli Air Force struck a building near the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital. As a result of the attack, the consulate building was destroyed and the commanders of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) unit, Generals Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, were killed.

President Ebrahim Raisi has already warned that “this unfair crime won’t go unanswered.” 

“Zionists must know that they will never achieve their sinister goals with such inhumane actions and, day by day, the resistance front and the disgust and hatred of free nations against their illegitimate nature are being strengthened, and this cowardly crime will also not go unanswered,” he said. 

What the answer will be is still unknown. However, in recent years, Tehran has managed to become a full-fledged superpower in the region, with support in many countries in the Middle East.

Shadow of Iran

The escalation of the conflict in Gaza, which started with the Hamas-led invasion of Israel last October (“Operation Al-Aqsa Flood”) and the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) subsequent military operation that claimed tens of thousands of lives, gave rise to much speculation about the weakness and short-sightedness of the Israeli leadership and the exceptional military training of Israel’s opponents. And it’s not just Hamas that we’re talking about, but Iran.

Iran was immediately accused of being involved in the Hamas attack. The WSJ reported that Iran had trained the Palestinians and instructed them on how to break through the Israeli border.

Moreover, it was said that Tehran had green-lighted the attack. The detailed coordination of the operation allegedly took place during a meeting between senior members of Hamas, Hezbollah, and two other Iran-backed militant groups in Beirut shortly before October 7. Officers of the IRGC also attended the meeting.

Later, the IRGC stated that the Hamas attack had been planned as revenge for the 2020 murder of the head of the Quds Force (part of the IRGC), General Qassem Soleimani. However, rumors about Iran’s direct involvement in the anti-Israeli operation haven’t been verified.

On November 3, 2023, the secretary general of the Lebanese movement Hezbollah, Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, publicly stated that Iran had not been involved in operation Al-Aqsa Flood.

“The decision behind this operation was 100% Palestinian, and its implementation was 100% Palestinian. [It was launched] in order to draw the attention of the whole world to this problem. Its planners hid it from everyone, even from the movements of the Axis of Resistance,“ he said.

“Absolute secrecy is what ensured the brilliant success of the operation through the element of astonishing surprise. The Islamic Republic of Iran publicly supports the resistance movements but it does not exercise any guardianship over them [or] over their leaders.”

On the one hand, this statement made by the leader of Iran’s main proxy force in the region marked the lines which Iran was not ready to cross. On the other hand, Nasrallah reminded the world that Iran was able to confront Israel and its allies without starting World War III. In fact, the Axis of Resistance – an informal regional alliance between several Middle Eastern nations and political organizations which oppose the West and Israel and are united by Shiite ideology – was created for this very purpose. 

In a way, Iran has created the world’s most successful coalition, which proved itself capable not only of restoring order in the region and fighting terrorism, but also challenging global forces.

The “Party of God” heads the resistance

After the explosion in the port of Beirut, when chaos reigned in Lebanon, I talked with one of my friends from Hezbollah. At the time, he assured me that it was largely due to the efforts of Hezbollah that the country didn’t fall into the abyss. And yes, Iranian funding had a lot to do with it. After all, Hezbollah is made up of ordinary Lebanese people who support their country’s economy. However, it would not be fair to say that Hezbollah is totally dependent on Iran and subordinate to it, since Iran has a special relationship with the countries that are part of the Axis of Resistance. However, to gain a deeper understanding, let’s start from the beginning. 

The roots of Hezbollah go back to the early 1960s, when a clerical movement arose in Lebanon that wanted to revive the key principles of Islam. The idea was proposed by several Muslim theologians who had just returned from Najaf, Iraq, where they had been studying in Shia seminaries. Two of these people are particularly noteworthy.

The first is Imam Musa al-Sadr, who was educated in Qom, Iran. He embarked on his political journey in the Lebanese city of Tyre, but his activities soon spread throughout the country. Al-Sadr was very popular, he often spoke at various mass cultural and educational events and surrounded himself with prominent intellectuals from various backgrounds. In 1967, he created the Supreme Islamic Shia Council (SISC), an official religious institution that supported the Shiite community. Many politicians, even those who shared Sadr’s faith, disapproved of this. Nonetheless, al-Sadr continued his political activities. He founded the Movement of the Oppressed and a military group to fight against Israel, called the Lebanese Resistance Regiments (the Amal Movement). In all his sermons, the Imam called for war with Israel. Eventually, Al-Sadr was abducted in Libya, where he came at the invitation of President Muammar Gaddafi on August 31, 1978. His fate remains unknown.

The Imam’s work continues

Modern-day Hezbollah is associated with the name of another Muslim theologian, Ayatollah Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah. This prominent Shiite scholar built a cultural center that included a mosque and a religious school in east Beirut. After moving to the southern suburbs of the city, he led prayers at the Imam al-Rida Mosque and became involved in politics, drawing on the experience of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. Fadlallah founded the Association of Charitable Organizations, which united many educational, religious, and social institutions. This organization played an important role in the further development of Hezbollah, and Fadlallah himself has been called its leader, although he claimed that this was not true. Gradually, the organization grew, it established a power vertical and acquired symbolic attributes. The Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 greatly contributed to the development of Hezbollah. 

In Lebanon, there was an urgent need to create a single Islamic organization that would unite all Shiite groups. Islam was to become the intellectual, religious, ideological, and practical foundation of the proposed political party. The party’s main goal was to resist the occupation, and its leader was to be a sayyed – i.e. a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed. 

Nine representatives of the main Islamic groups held a meeting, and issued a document known as the Manifesto of the Nine. This manifesto was sent to Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran, who approved it.

The manifesto was then adopted by the majority of the religious groups in Lebanon. Their leaders dissolved existing partnerships in favor of a single new structure, which became known as Hezbollah. One of the prominent leaders of the movement, Sheikh Naim Qassem, in his book 'Hezbollah: The Story From Within', wrote that the Lebanese Shiites enlisted the support of Tehran from the very beginning. The guardians of the Islamic Revolution were given an order to support the allies in their fight against Israel, primarily through military training and the provision of necessary infrastructure. A delegation of high-ranking Iranian military officials came to Syria, and Damascus agreed to deploy the IRGC to Lebanon. 

Training camps were set up in Lebanon’s Bekaa region, and a system was developed that included military, religious, and moral training of the fighters. Young people flocked to the training camps. The experience of the Palestinian resistance was also taken into account. All this yielded results in the war with Israel and later allowed Hezbollah to become an official political force that represented the interests of a large part of the population.

Today, Hezbollah continues to build up its military forces, despite external and internal pressure (certain forces in Lebanon speak in favor of disarming the movement). Hezbollah’s military arsenal includes dozens of types of missiles and drones. The group also has ballistic missiles with a range of between 500km and 700km. According to its secretary general, Hezbollah has around 100,000 fighters.  

Iran supports Hezbollah with hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Today, the group takes an active part in the Palestinian conflict. According to a recent report, the organization conducted 1,194 military operations on the Israeli border, leading to heavy losses on the Israeli side–  an estimated 2,000 people were killed and wounded and hundreds of pieces of military equipment were destroyed. 

Iran’s influence in Iraq

In early September, I went on a pilgrimage to Iraq for the annual Arbaeen March, which gathered tens of millions of Muslims from all over the world. We walked 82km from the city of Najaf (which Shia Muslims consider sacred) to the city of Karbala, and throughout this journey, I couldn’t help but wonder how well everything was organized. The people were provided with food, medical services, transport and, most importantly, their safety was ensured. This was largely possible due to the assistance of Iran, which traditionally helps organize this important event for Shia Muslims. 

However, just a few decades ago (from 1980-1988), Iraq and Iran were in the midst of a bloody war. In eight years, this conflict claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people on both sides. The fact that both countries are considered centers of Shia Islam added to the problem. The main centers of religious education are located both in Iraq and Iran – in the cities of Najaf and Qom, respectively. The main spiritual authority in Iraq is its supreme leader, while in Iraq it is the great Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. As a result, the Shiites in Iraq became divided based on whether they were oriented towards Iran or Iraq.

The country’s most powerful political forces are connected with Tehran and, as a result, Iraq has become one of the important centers of the Axis of Resistance. This has been clearly demonstrated by the current conflict in Palestine. For example, in November of last year, it was reported that US military bases in Iraq and Syria had been attacked 58 times since the start of the Hamas operation on October 7.

The high level of coordination between the groups which carry out the attacks and Tehran is quite obvious. At the end of January 2024, the media reported that the strike on the US base was carried out a few hours after Iran vowed to avenge the attack on IRGC forces in Damascus. According to some reports, the militants were members of Iraq’s Shiite militia Harakat al-Nujaba. However, many similar groups operate in Iraq.

Popular Mobilization Forces (Al-Hashd Al-Shaabi)

The Popular Mobilization Forces are the largest and most powerful paramilitary group in Iraq. Some reports claim that it became the third-largest military force in the country last year. Official reports show that, from 2001 to 2003, the Popular Mobilization Forces doubled in number – from 116,000 fighters to 238,000. In comparison, the number of soldiers in the regular army increased by 25,000 (to 450,000) over the same period, while the number of police officers in the country increased by 22,250 (to 700,000). The growth is explained by the active financing of this Tehran-backed group.

The need for such an organization arose after the city of Mosul was captured by Islamic State (IS) terrorists in June 2014. At the time, 1,500 terrorists forced thousands of soldiers to flee the city. Prior to this, IS terrorists had captured the cities of Hit, Fallujah, and most of Anbar province. It became obvious that the Iraqi Army was not able to cope with IS. At that time, Iraq’s government decided to integrate the militia into the country’s security services, and Iraq’s Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a ‘fatwa’ on the “righteous jihad” against IS on June 13, 2014. He called on the people of Iraq to take up arms and defend “their country, their people, and their shrines,” and to join the security service. The fatwa strengthened the authority and legitimacy of the Popular Mobilization Forces. In light of the threat posed by IS, intra-Shiite competition subsided and Iran’s influence in Iraq grew. 

In June 2014, the city of Tikrit was captured by terrorists and 1,700 military personnel were brutally executed (this is known as the Camp Speicher massacre). The shocking footage quickly spread on social media, and the Popular Mobilization Forces gained public support which increased even more after the fighters managed to push IS out of Tikrit. In April 2015, the city was liberated.

The fighters from the Popular Mobilization Forces were assisted by the IRGC’s Quds Forces, led by Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. To this day, the Popular Mobilization Forces continue to maintain close military, intelligence, and financial ties with Tehran. It became a legal organization at the end of 2016, when the Iraqi parliament legislated for its status. The Interior Ministry listed more than 67 different brigades, which belonged to the umbrella organization. It is important to note that not all brigades are Iranian proxy forces. However, the Badr Organization and Kataib Hezbollah are considered the most authoritative pro-Iranian groups. 

By 2019, the Popular Mobilization Forces included both fighters who were oriented towards Iran and those who recognized the authority of Ayatollah al-Sistani. 

The Badr Organization

This group came into existence a long time ago. During the Iran-Iraq War, it helped Iran fight against Saddam Hussein. Hadi al-Amiri – the organization’s leader and experienced field commander – was one of the few people whom IS militants truly feared in 2014. Al-Amiri publicly declared his support for Iran. In 30 years, he had come a long way – from a guerrilla fighter who took part in the Iran-Iraq war on the side of Tehran, to a military commander in charge of one of Iraq’s best Shiite brigades. He also served as the Iraqi transport minister. Al-Amiri had gone from a national traitor to an Iraqi hero who was considered a key figure in the fight against IS.

In 2019, the US accused al-Amiri of attacking the US embassy. The attack was a response to US air raids on the militia bases of Kataib Hezbollah, which is allied with Iran.

Kataib Hezbollah

The Iraqi branch of Hezbollah, formed in 2003, has up to 30,000 fighters. Like the Badr Organization, Iraq’s Hezbollah publicly supports Iran, and is oriented towards the Islamic Republic and its supreme leader both spiritually and politically. The group took an active part in resisting US forces during the Iraq War. It also fought against terrorists on the side of Syrian President Bashar Assad. According to some reports, Kataib Hezbollah fighters are trained by instructors from the Quds Forces, which are part of Iran’s IRGC.

The US believes that the recent attack in which three US soldiers were killed on the Jordan-Syria border was carried out by Kataib Hezbollah. The Pentagon publicly declared this. Meanwhile, the militants have claimed responsibility for more than 150 attacks on US troops since the start of the war in Gaza in 2023.

The group used to be headed by Jamal Jafar Ibrahimi, better known as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who came from Basrah, Iraq. However, he died on January 3, 2020 as a result of a US airstrike near Baghdad Airport. The legendary Iranian general, the head of the Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, was also killed at that time. Al-Muhandis was Iraq’s deputy national security adviser, a member of the Iraqi parliament, and the deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Forces. 

In addition to the above-mentioned groups, which operate under the auspices of the Popular Mobilization Forces, we may also note the Iraq-based militant groups “Imam Ali Brigades,” “Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba,” and “Saraya al-Khorasani.”

Iran’s influence in Syria

It would not be an exaggeration to say that, during the war against terrorists that began in 2011, Iran, along with Russia, played an important role in saving Syria. From the start of the conflict, Iran sent volunteer fighters, military equipment, medicine, fuel, and ammunition to Syria. Tehran opened a line of credit and allocated huge funds to support the government in Damascus. This helped Assad hold out until 2015, when Russia’s Air Force came to the aid of Syria and radically changed the situation at the front. 

During the war years, Iran formed many paramilitary groups in Syria that helped the Syrian Army. However, Shiite militias in the country preserved their independence and were never directly subordinate to the official command of its army.

Liwa Abu al-Fadhal al-Abbas (LAFA)

The Al-Abbas Brigade is closely linked to the Syrian Republican Guard and was named after Abbas ibn Ali – the son of the Shiite Imam Ali. The brigade was formed in 2012 with a specific goal – to ensure the safety of the Sayyida Zeinab mosque in Damascus and other holy sites in Syria revered by Shiites. 

Reliable sources claim that the brigade is divided into smaller groups, named after the 12 Shiite Imams, and consists mainly of Iraqi, Lebanese, and Syrian Shiites. Initially, there were about 500 fighters, but in 2013 the number of volunteers increased to 10,000. All fighters completed a 45-day training course in Iran, during which they were trained to use weapons such as grenade launchers, Kalashnikov assault rifles, and sniper rifles. 

The Fatemiyoun Brigade 

This group was officially formed in 2014. It mainly includes Shiites from Afghanistan, known as the Hazaras (which make up around 10% of the country’s overall population). The fighters are recruited from among the millions of Afghan refugees who live in Iran. In Afghanistan itself, the brigade is known as “Hezbollah in Afghanistan.”

In this way, Tehran recruited Afghans to protect the interests of Syria and the Syrian government, which, throughout history, has been loyal to the Islamic Republic. According to certain information, the Fatemiyoun Brigade is mostly made up of the Army of Muhammad –  a Shiite militant group formed during the Soviet-Afghan war. These militants had also fought against the Taliban. The brigade is divided into smaller units. For example, the group includes the Abuzar Brigade, which consists entirely of Afghan militants. 

According to the US Institute of Peace (USIP), Fatimiyoun militants are generally between 17 and 35 years old. Shiism isn’t the only motivation for joining the brigade – many fighters face economic problems and are vulnerable due to their migrant status. The report says the militants are often recruited from the same village or workplace – this encourages them to watch over each other and operate more effectively at the front.

The Fatimiyoun Brigade under the command of IRGC officers took part in Assad’s offensives. It fought in the Syrian cities of Homs, Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor and Idlib. The brigades possess modern Russian T-90 tanks. According to various sources, they have between 10,000 and 20,000 fighters. However, this information dates back to 2017, since Iran reduced the number of fighters following the victory over IS. The youngest and oldest fighters, as well as those who violated discipline, were the first to be demobilized. Today, the brigade is no longer active, but experts believe that, if needed, Iran could call up to 40,000 trained fighters at any moment. At least 10,000 of them possess combat experience.

The Zainebiyoun Brigade

This group mostly includes Pakistani Shiites (from the Kurram and Balochistan regions). The name of the unit refers to the main Shiite shrine in Damascus, which was barbarically attacked by IS militants in 2013. After this incident, the region started actively mobilizing Shiite militants. The Pakistani brigade numbered between 2,000 and 5,000 fighters. It was often spotted near Damascus, as well as near Aleppo and Idlib, and has participated in the Syrian Army’s offensives. The IRGC was also responsible for the training and financing of the Zainebiyoun Brigade.

Paradoxically, experts believe that the brigade is one of the least known and poorly studied Shiite armed groups that operated in Syria under Iranian command. 

One of the last Pakistani Shiites to die in Syria was Zaki Mohammad Abbas. He was buried in the city of Qom in Iran, which the Shiites consider holy. Little is known about Abbas – his name may be a pseudonym, and his place and year of birth, occupation, as well as the location and circumstances of his death in Syria remain unknown. 

In an interview with Panjereh on June 23, 2016, Zainebiyoun’s chief commander, Seyyed Abbas Mousavi, stated that the main reason for the group’s mobilization was the threat to Shiite pilgrimage sites in Syria. He said that Pakistani Shiites wanted to “rush to the defense of the shrines” and take part in the “apocalyptic battle against terrorists.”

According to Mousavi, “Iran is the main center and command headquarters of this war.” The commander also said Pakistani Shiites had written a letter to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, asking for permission to fight in Syria, to which Khamenei verbally replied: “Those who are able to fulfill their duty should do so to the best of their ability.”

Several sources claim that the Zainebiyoun Brigade is under the direct command of the IRGC.

Yemen’s Houthis

Until last year, few people talked about the Yemeni fighters from Ansar Allah. But things changed when they rose up against the US and its allies. The Houthi group was the only force in the region that dared to tell the truth about the events in Palestine and stood up for the Palestinians. On January 12, 2024, the US and UK attacked the positions of the Houthis in Yemen. This strike was a response to the blockade imposed by the Houthis on Israeli ships (as well as ships heading to and from Israel) in the Red Sea.

The Houthis are also called “Iran’s proxies,” and it is believed that Iran has transferred modern drones and missiles to Ansar Allah, which made it possible for the group to attack deep-sea targets and modern ships. However, the Houthis are a lot more independent than, for example, Iraq’s militia brigades or Hezbollah. There is no evidence that they are dependent on Iranian aid or under Tehran’s direct influence.

Ansar Allah’s cooperation with Iran resembles a union formed on the basis of ideological and religious affinity. However, the Houthis have their own understanding of the situation in the region, as well as their own goals and methods, which we wrote about in detail in an earlier article.

Chaos has reigned in Yemen since the unification of South Yemen and North Yemen in 1990. The latest conflict began with a dispute between the Sunnis and Shiites in 2004. In Saada, a city in northwestern Yemen, the Shiites spoke out against the Sunni authorities, whom they accused of religious oppression and corruption. Naturally, Iran supported the Shiites. As a result, the religious minority demanded independence and an armed uprising began, which was headed by Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, who was killed in late 2004. The fighters are called “Houthis” in his honor, but officially, the movement is called Ansar Allah (“Supporters of God”).

After Hussein’s death, his brother Abdul-Malik al-Houthi took over as the movement’s leader and the fighting continued. Yemen’s authorities called the Houthis a “pro-Iranian fifth column.” In response, the movement accused Yemen’s political establishment of treason and said it served the interests of Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabi religious movement. Today, we may assume that Iran and Yemen are closely tied, united by their common goal of fighting against the US and Israel. In this regard, the Houthis are also an important part of the Axis of Resistance.

Conclusion

Tehran resorts to a revolutionary approach in its foreign policy in order to improve its positions in the Middle East. This has transformed it from a peripheral power that barely survived the eight-year war with Iraq into a regional superpower with global ambitions. 

Iran’s success in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen is a result of its long-standing support for the region’s main political forces. Moreover, Iran has a deep understanding of the cultural characteristics of those countries where the Shiites make up either the majority, or the socially and politically important part of the population. 

As for Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, we must also note the economic ties between these nations and Iran. Iraq and Iran are involved in cultural exchange – for example, Shiite scholars and religious pilgrims regularly travel between the two countries. This allows the two nations which were once at war to grow closer to each other. 

Iran not only engages in the policy of exporting the Islamic Revolution, but also protects the interests of the Shiites and acts as a guarantor of their security. Iran has proven that it does not withdraw when it comes to war. At the same time, Iran promotes the pro-Palestinian agenda and the liberation of Jerusalem, which makes it popular among many Sunnis in the region.

As of today, Iran and the Axis of Resistance coalition which it heads are the only forces in the region that are ready to confront the US. Meanwhile, the Americans are losing their authority in the Middle East and becoming more despised by the local population.

Thomas Bach has been interviewed by notorious pranksters Vovan and Lexus

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has admitted to a pair of pranksters that Ukrainians have been asked to spy on Russian athletes online so that they could be banned from the upcoming Paris Games.   

In a video-call posted on Tuesday, in which one of the Russian duo known as Vovan and Lexus impersonated an African official, Bach claimed that by sanctioning Russian athletes, the IOC is “punishing those who are responsible for the annexation.”  

The IOC chief was apparently referring to the former Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye, which overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in public referenda in 2022. They followed the Crimean Peninsula, which did the same in 2014 after a Western-backed coup in Kiev.  

“No Russian anthem can be played and no Russian flag can be raised [at the Paris 2024 Olympics],” the IOC president stated.

Answering a question on whether Russian athletes who support the Ukraine conflict deserved the right to take part in the Olympics, Bach revealed that the IOC has a special commission which monitors public statements by athletes in support of the government in Moscow.   

“We have a special supervisory commission together with an independent company which is monitoring the internet, the media, and public declarations,” he stated.   

“We also offered the Ukrainian side – and not only offered, but also asked to provide us with their knowledge about the behavior of such athletes or officials,” Bach further revealed.  

He stressed that any athletes found to have expressed support for the Russian government will be banned from the Olympics.   

Russian athletes are allowed to participate in the Games as neutrals in individual sports, but are barred from team events.  

After the start of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, the IOC recommended that athletes from Russia and its close ally Belarus should not be allowed to compete in international events. In December last year, the body ruled that a limited number of people from the two countries could participate in the Olympics as AINs (individual neutral athletes).  

In March, the international body announced that the maximum number of Russians who could qualify for the Paris Games was 55, while Belarus is limited to 28 athletes. However, according to IOC director James Macleod, the two nations are unlikely to meet the quotas, and around 36 Russian and 22 Belarusian athletes are expected to make it to the Games.  

Several top-ranking European officials, including Latvian Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, have fallen for prank calls by Russian duo Vovan and Lexus in recent months, during which the politicians revealed their thoughts on sensitive topics such as the Ukraine conflict.

Nearly one-third of cabinet members resigned abruptly on Monday

Peruvian President Dina Boluarte replaced six ministers on Monday after they resigned abruptly as she faces a corruption probe related to her ownership of luxury watches, media reported on Tuesday.    

The resignations follow a probe launched into allegations of illicit enrichment by the Peruvian leader, who is being investigated over her high-end Rolex watches, as authorities suspect corruption.  

Boluarte is being preliminarily investigated for possessing an undisclosed collection of luxury watches since she came to power in July 2021 as vice president and social inclusion minister, and then as president in December 2022.  

Police and prosecutors gained entry to the president’s residence in Lima on Friday night with a sledgehammer in a raid authorized by the judiciary at the request of the attorney general’s office. Investigators were reportedly searching for evidence regarding the origin of at least three Rolex watches. Boluarte has denied the accusations and insists that she purchased the watches with her own money.   

The cabinet reshuffle came as lawmakers from various parties, including Peru Libre to which Boluarte once belonged, submitted to parliament a request to remove the president from office for “permanent moral incapacity.”  

Interior Minister Victor Torres was among the six ministers who announced their resignation.  

“I’m leaving in peace with my hands clean,” Torres told reporters, adding: “I am leaving because I asked the lady and she accepted.” While he claimed to have stepped down due to “family and health issues,” some media speculated that the resignation was meant as punishment for the weekend raids.   

The five other cabinet ministers who resigned had held the ministries for women’s issues, education, rural development, production, and foreign trade. They reportedly voiced support for Boluarte, with one describing the raid on her home as “unnecessary” and “excessive.”  

On Monday evening, the Peruvian leader named six new ministers, replacing roughly a third of her 19-person cabinet in a single day.  

The slew of resignations has increased the volatility of Peru’s political landscape, which has seen six different presidents in merely eight years.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed that IDF was responsible for the attack, but insisted it was an accident

Seven aid workers, including four foreigners, providing meals for the World Central Kitchen (WCK) have been killed in a “targeted attack” by Israeli forces in Gaza, the NGO, founded by Spanish-American celebrity chef Jose Andres, has said.

All of the group’s operations in the Palestinian enclave have been suspended following the Monday incident, it added.

Five fatalities were reported initially as a result of the airstrike, but WCK announced an updated death toll in a statement on Tuesday. The victims include a dual US-Canadian citizen, three Palestinians, an Australian, a Pole and a British national, the group said.

According to the NGO, its staff members were attacked in the town of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza as they were leaving a warehouse after unloading tons of food aid earlier delivered to the Palestinian enclave by sea.

The aid workers were traveling through a de-conflicted zone in two armored cars with the WCK logo on them as well as a soft skin vehicle, the NGO said. The convoy was struck despite WCK coordinating its movements with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the statement read.

“This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the most dire of situations, where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable,” WCK CEO Erin Gore said.

Videos from the scene of the attack show the bodies of several people in World Central Kitchen vests. British, Polish and Australian passports were also seen in the clips.
Andres wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that he was “heartbroken” by what had happened. The Michelin-starred chef urged the Israeli government to stop its “indiscriminate killing,” restriction of humanitarian aid and “using food as a weapon” in Gaza.

Australia has confirmed that one of its citizens was killed in the IDF strike, with the country’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying that Canberra “expects full accountability for the deaths of aid workers, which is completely unacceptable.”

US National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson wrote on X that Washington was “deeply troubled” by the deaths of the WCK staff. “We urge Israel to swiftly investigate what happened,” Watson said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has acknowledged that the IDF was behind the airstrike that killed the aid workers, but is insisting that it was an accident.

“Unfortunately, in the last 24 hours there was a tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the Gaza Strip,” he said on Tuesday, speaking from a hospital where he underwent a surgery for hernia.

“It happens in war,” Netanyahu said of the incident, promising that it will be thoroughly investigated. “We will do everything so that this thing does not happen again,” the PM added.

READ MORE: Netanyahu approves ‘operational plan’ to attack Rafah in Gaza

The UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) said last month that 165 of its workers have been killed since October 7, when the IDF began its attacks on Gaza in response to an incursion into Israel by Hamas, in which at least 1,200 were killed and 250 taken hostage. The death toll from Israel’s airstrikes and ground offensive in Gaza has already reached 32,845 people, according to the enclave's health ministry.

Iran has said it will take “countermeasures” against the US and Israel over the recent airstrike in Syria

Iran has vowed to retaliate against Israel and the US in response to an airstrike in Syria which killed a group of Tehran’s senior commanders.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) confirmed that seven officers, including brigadier generals Mohammad Reza Zahedi and Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, were killed in the airstrike on the Iranian consulate building in Damascus on Monday. Zahedi was a senior commander with the Quds Force – the IRGC unit tasked with operations overseas – and Rahimi was his deputy.

Officials in Syria and Iran have blamed Israel for the attack. “The Islamic Republic of Iran, while reserving its rights to take countermeasures, decides on the type of reaction and punishment of the aggressor,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a statement quoted by the IRNA news agency.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned on X (formerly Twitter) that Israel’s close ally the US “must be held accountable.” 

Israel has not commented on the strike. The Israeli government rarely publicly acknowledges airstrikes in Syria, which Damascus has repeatedly denounced as violations of its sovereignty.

The Jewish state has accused Iran of masterminding the deadly October 7 attack on Israeli citizens, which kickstarted the ongoing war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Last month, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck what it said were Iran-linked militants in Lebanon.

Tehran has pledged to continue its support for Hamas and other Palestinian groups, but insisted that Hamas had independently decided to invade Israeli territory.

A ‘rally around the flag’ effect could disarm the populist surge, Charles Sapin has suggested

With polls showing ‘nationalist’ parties surging in popularity ahead of the upcoming European Parliament election, Kiev’s worsening situation could prove useful to the bloc’s powers that be, according to a new book by French investigative journalist Charles Sapin.

Most of the EU has been outspoken in supporting the Ukrainian government in the conflict with Russia, sending an estimated €77 billion ($83 billion) worth of weapons, equipment, ammunition and even cash to Kiev. Sapin’s analysis, however, implies that bad news from the battlefield could bolster the European People’s Party (EPP) and the second-largest group, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) in upcoming elections.

“If Ukraine’s position weakens, there may be a ‘rallying behind the flag effect’ more favorable to the forces in place,” he was quoted as saying by Politico EU on Monday.

Sapin is a reporter for the weekly Le Point who spent six years researching what he calls the “nationalist” parties that form the Identity and Democracy (ID) bloc in the European parliament – such as Hungary’s Fidesz, Portugal’s Chega, Spain’s Vox, France’s National Rally, Brothers of Italy and the Sweden Democrats. The final result was the book called ‘Les Moissons de la Colere’ (The Harvests of Wrath), presented as a deep dive into “nationalist Europe.”

One major weakness of the parties in the ID grouping, according to Sapin, is that they have different opinions on the Ukraine conflict. 

Nationalists’ numbers might be rising but they are “isolated” in Brussels because of their particularism, he contends. Their victories in the upcoming election would move the needle to the right, but to the benefit of the EPP, currently the majority group.

This may help explain why French President Emmanuel Macron brought up Ukraine at a recent brainstorming session about the upcoming elections. Amid the strategy discussions the French leader suddenly voiced a concern that Ukraine “could fall very quickly,” according to sources that spoke with Politico. He then set up a 'New Europeans' coalition, an alliance of liberal parties from France, Denmark, Poland, Romania and Slovenia.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban – long the sole dissenter when it came to aiding Kiev – doubled down on calls for a ceasefire in Ukraine and a negotiated peace.

According to Sapin, parties like Orban’s have gained power thanks to semantic tricks and ideological acrobatics, converting “old bourgeois” voters by talking about immigration, identity and the environment and abandoning calls for leaving the EU. His book includes insights from both the closest political advisers to Orban, from Italian PM Giorgia Meloni and French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen – and from their political enemies.

Police have reportedly found proof that 57-year-old Zebah Abdel Salem Haniyeh had links to ‘serious security offenses’

Israeli security forces on Monday arrested the sister of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on incitement-of-terrorism charges, according to media reports that cited police.

Officers reportedly claim to have found documents, telephones, and other items through which 57-year-old Zebah Abdel Salem Haniyeh – an Israeli citizen – is linked to “serious offenses against Israel.”

The police initially did not identify the suspect, saying only that she was a resident of the southern town of Tel Sheva, where the raid took place on Monday morning. However, according to The Times of Israel, defense sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the woman is one of Haniyeh’s sisters.

The operation, dubbed ‘Early Dawn,’ was reportedly a multi-department effort, with police, border officers, the IDF, and Israeli Police’s aerial unit all taking part in the raid.

Israeli Southern District Commander Superintendent Amir Cohen was cited as commenting on the arrest operation that no effort would be spared in the war against terrorism and that every asset available would be used to ensure peace and security for Israeli citizens.

Later on Monday, some Israeli media reported that Haniyeh would be detained until April 4.

The reports of the arrest come as Israel continues to wage war against Hamas in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to eliminate the Palestinian militant group, after it staged a deadly incursion into Israel last October, in which some 1,200 people were killed and scores taken hostage. The Israeli campaign has inflicted heavy damage on Gaza, leaving at least 32,000 people dead, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

On Sunday, Netanyahu reiterated his resolve to achieve a “victory,” revealing that he had already approved an “operational plan” for a renewed push into the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

IRGC Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi was among the dead in a Damascus airstrike

Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been killed in an Israeli airstrike on Damascus, Syria.

The Monday attack destroyed a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, killing at least six people, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). Iranian media identified the building as the Iranian consulate and the ambassador’s residence. Iran’s Tasnim News Agency identified Zahedi, a senior commander in the IRGC’s Quds Force, as being among the dead. His deputy was reportedly killed as well.

According to a Reuters correspondent in Damascus, the consulate was “flattened,” in what was described as “a startling apparent escalation of conflict in the Middle East that would pit Israel against Iran and its allies.”

It’s now confirmed that Abou Mahdi Zahedi, Iran’s top general in Syria and Lebanon was killed along with other IRGC officers in the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. https://t.co/uZo8QDZpo5 pic.twitter.com/AKTyMjw6UR

Israel has not commented on the strike. West Jerusalem rarely acknowledges its airstrikes against Syria, which Damascus has repeatedly denounced as violations of its sovereignty.

The attack on the consulate is “a breach of all international conventions,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in a call to his Syrian counterpart, according to Iranian media. He added that Tehran will hold Israel responsible. Iran’s ambassador to Syria said the response will be “harsh,” according to Reuters.

The Quds Force is the IRGC’s military intelligence and unconventional operations arm. Zahedi was reportedly in charge of its operations in Syria and Lebanon. Its most famous commander, General Qassem Soleimani, was assassinated in January 2020 by a US drone, while visiting Baghdad, Iraq. 

Another Quds Force commander, General Razi Mousavi, was killed in Damascus last December, also by an Israeli airstrike that was not officially acknowledged.

Investigators are reportedly looking into private text messages between the European Commission president and the CEO of Pfizer

The EU’s top prosecutors have taken over an ongoing corruption investigation into European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Politico reported on Monday citing an unnamed spokesperson for the Liege Prosecutor’s Office in Belgium.

The probe relates to the purchase of nearly two billion Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine doses for the EU at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. The prosecution claims the EC chief negotiated the multi-billion-euro deal with the pharmaceutical giant’s CEO, Alber Bourla, in private via text messages before clinical trials for the vaccine were completed.

Von der Leyen has refused to disclose the content of those messages, claiming she cannot find them.

Investigators from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), who have been working on the case for the past few months, reportedly believe that Von der Leyen may be guilty of “interference in public functions, destruction of SMS, corruption and conflict of interest,” according to legal documents seen by Politico.

Despite the allegations and von der Leyen herself admitting that she privately communicated with Bourla for nearly a month before signing the nearly €20 billion ($21.5 billion) deal, no formal charges have yet been brought against the EC chief.

The case has been supported by the governments of Poland and Hungary, which have also filed official complaints about Von der Leyen’s role in the vaccine negotiations, Politico’s sources said. The outlet noted, however, that Warsaw moved to withdraw the complaint after Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-EU government came to power last year.

The New York Times, which first reported in 2021 that private conversations between Von der Leyen and Bourla had indeed taken place prior to the signing of the vaccine deal, has also filed a lawsuit against the EC for refusing to disclose the content of the text messages and turning down a request for access to documents.

The case against the EC chief has garnered “extremely high public interest,” according to EU officials, amid concerns that the bloc purchased significantly more Covid shots than were necessary.

In December last year, Politico reported that EU states had dumped at least 215 million doses, which had cost taxpayers as much as €4 billion ($4.3 billion). Despite this, the vaccines will continue flowing to the EU under the contract with Pfizer, at least until 2027.

Western advisers and instructors are actively supporting Kiev’s forces against Russia, the defense minister has said

Every NATO member already has military personnel in Ukraine, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur claimed on Monday. Under no circumstances, however, will forces from the US-led bloc take part in the hostilities against Russia, the minister insisted in an interview with Austrian media outlet Die Presse.  

NATO servicemen are operating in the embattled country as advisers and are involved in training Ukrainian soldiers in Poland, the UK, and Estonia, Pevkur told the outlet. Western defense officials are currently planning to set up training camps in Ukraine in a bid to avoid issues with border crossings and to speed up the preparation process, he added.   

At the same time, Pevkur insisted there is no talk of NATO soldiers fighting directly in the conflict, stating that “this has already been ruled out.”  

“The reality is that every NATO member country already has military personnel in Ukraine, such as military attaches or people who travel to Ukraine from time to time,” the official said. “What [French] President [Emmanuel] Macron said mainly related to personnel training,” he added.   

Macron openly raised the possibility of putting NATO troops on the ground in Ukraine in February, saying that “we cannot exclude anything” and that the West “will do everything necessary to prevent Russia from winning this war.”  

The remarks, which Macron later described as having been “weighed, thought through, and measured,” prompted a wave of denials from a vast majority of NATO states and the bloc’s leadership. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg publicly refuted the idea shortly after Macron’s initial statement, saying that no plans existed to deploy troops to Ukraine. Numerous Western leaders, including US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, have also denied any such plans.  

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said any NATO troop deployments in Ukraine would not change the situation on the battlefield, given that Western soldiers are already active in the country as military advisers and mercenaries. He nonetheless warned that the ramifications of such a move would be “tragic.”

The Russian military is ready for the possible deployment of the US-led bloc’s troops to Ukraine, a top diplomat has said

The current state of relations between Russia and NATO can be described as “something more than a Cold War,” the head of Moscow’s delegation at the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, Konstantin Gavrilov, has said.

During an interview with RIA Novosti on Monday, Gavrilov was asked to comment on French President Emmanuel Macron’s February statement that he “cannot exclude” the possibility of troops from NATO countries being sent to Ukraine to aid Kiev in the conflict with Moscow.

“The military strategists in Washington and Brussels should realize: if by lifting the taboo on the potential deployment of the bloc’s servicemen to Ukraine they are trying to test our country’s strength, then we are ready for any turn of events,” he replied.

According to the diplomat, warnings by US President Joe Biden and other Western politicians, that if Russia defeats Ukraine it is going to take on NATO states next, are actually aimed at diverting “the attention of taxpayers from the senseless pumping of their money into the Ukrainian ‘corruption black hole’ as well as to warm up the public opinion in favor of reviving defense industries in their countries.”

His comment echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement last week that “the claims that we are going to attack Europe after Ukraine – it is utter nonsense and intimidation of their own population just to beat the money out of them.”

Gavrilov said that during the Cold War, almost all NATO statements began with the evaluation of the possibility of a sudden large-scale attack on the bloc by the USSR and its Eastern European allies. Similar rhetoric is prevalent within the US-led military alliance today, he added.

The diplomat recalled that Russia has been labeled “the most significant and direct threat” in NATO’s Strategic Concept, which was adopted in 2022. “Apparently, now their ideal vision of European security is the borders with our country being wrapped in barbed wire,” he said.

“As a result, Russia-NATO relations can now be characterized as something more than a Cold War,” Gavrilov stressed.

READ MORE: No ‘direct threat’ from Russia – senior NATO officer

Since fighting between Russia and Ukraine began in February 2022, Moscow has said repeatedly that the US and its NATO allies have become de-facto parties to the conflict through the provision of arms, including advanced weaponry, intelligence-sharing, and the training of Ukrainian troops.