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Donald Trump just sent Nicolas Maduro a Christmas message, of a sort. And that message is not many happy returns of the day. Earlier today, the US Navy boarded a tanker carrying Venezuelan oil in international waters. Unlike the first seizure, Marc Caputo reports for Axios, this ship had no specific sanctions applied to it [see update below]. This escalates the standoff over Maduro's illegal regime and the oil revenue he desperately needs to cling to power:The U.S. military early Saturday boarded a tanker that is not under U.S. sanctions as it shipped Venezuelan oil in hopes of escaping a...

US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have presented a $112 billion reconstruction plan to Gulf officials to build a “high-tech metropolis” atop the remains of Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The 32-page PowerPoint presentation labeled "sensitive" and titled "Project Sunrise" was developed over 45 days and reportedly presented to officials from Qatar, UAE, Egypt, and Turkiye. The plan envisions turning the Gaza Strip into a "high-tech metropolis" over the next two decades with four phases of reconstruction beginning in southern Gaza. It also calls for turning Rafah into Gaza's new "administrative center," housing over 500,000...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to brief US President Donald Trump that any expansion of Iran’s ballistic missile programme could pose a threat requiring swift action, NBC News reported on Saturday (Dec 20). The report said Israeli officials believe Iran may be rebuilding nuclear enrichment sites bombed by the United States in June, and are preparing to present Trump with options for renewed strikes targeting Iran’s missile capabilities.

Bondi Beach is meant to be neutral ground. A place without history. A democratic beautiful stretch of sand where politics dissolves into sunlight, surf, and families pushing strollers toward the water. That illusion died when Jews gathered there to light Hanukkah candles—and were slaughtered for it. The massacre belongs to a broader pattern that has accelerated since Oct. 7, 2023: Jews targeted far from any battlefield, in the ordinary spaces of civic life. Synagogues, campuses, cafés, city streets—and now a beach—have become killing fields aimed not at a state, but at a people. The mass murder at Bondi did not...

The Iranian regime is in dire straits. Thanks to the decisive actions of President Trump and the State of Israel, the Islamic Republic is no longer the regional power it once was, and it now faces crises on every front. Iran’s military infrastructure has been seriously degraded, and its illicit nuclear program has been severely decimated. Its network of proxies throughout the Middle East is disintegrating: Hezbollah is seriously diminished; the Assad dynasty has collapsed; Iranian-backed militias in Iraq face mounting political and public backlash; and Hamas is a shadow of its former self. The domestic situation is also bleak....

"US Accuses Guinea-Bissau Military Officers of Drug Trafficking Two top officers are named as major players in cocaine shipment from Latin America to Guinea-Bissau" SNIPPET: "Na Tchuto denied the allegations on Friday and said that he will cooperate with the United States government. He also said the charges of drug trafficking do not make sense because he was in Portugal on June 29, 2008 when the cocaine shipment from Venezuela arrived. Na Tchuto said he did not return to Guinea-Bissau until July. Na Tchuto also pointed out that he was not arrested by Interpol when he was in Gambia or...

SummaryThe discussion centers on Venezuela being described as a mafia-run, cartel-controlled state rather than a legitimate government, heavily involved in narco-trafficking with Marxist allies in Honduras as a transit point, importing massive quantities of drugs into the US and causing American deaths.Key points raised:Actions against Venezuela are framed as stopping drug trafficking, Chinese influence, and related threats, not regime change or foreign wars.Claims of substantial evidence that a Venezuela-affiliated election machine company interfered in US 2020 and 2024 elections, with references to connected machines, manipulable data, and cases like Tina Peters.Chinese Communist Party has a sophisticated spy base and missiles...

(2011 editorial) I have always been fascinated by the timeless parable of the scorpion and the frog. It’s a short yet powerful warning about the often immutable nature of certain beings. In this case, the deadly and incontrovertible nature of evil. As the story goes, a scorpion asks a frog to carry it across a body of water, since the scorpion cannot swim. The frog then rightly asserts that doing so would put its life at great risk, as the scorpion is known to lethally sting other creatures, sometimes without provocation. To counter the frog’s argument, the scorpion insists that...

Sometimes member of Julani security detail dood it. Julani says he went rogue. Also says he was strictly ISIS, not affiliated with him. Whatever. Trump doesn't want to depose him, because that would strengthen the IRGC and Iran in Syria, and would lead to an endless non-linear war. But Julani sucks, even if he does look good in a suit and tie, and his beard is neat and trimmed. Julani doesn't want to fight the USA, because he knows that would end badly for him. Transcript linked below video.

Citing statements by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Abyaneh wrote that “spiritual defense” during Jewish Hanukkah ceremonies is "necessary."

This is a special time for Christians, Jews and for the Muslims trying to kill them. On October 9, 2023, the Sydney Opera House was supposed to be the scene of a Jewish solidarity rally with the victims of the Oct 7 Islamic massacres in Israel. Muslim mobs instead took over, waving terrorist flags and screaming, “Where are the Jews” and F___ the Jews” while the authorities did nothing. Despite the widespread availability of videos and eyewitness accounts, the authorities and the media vocally denied it ever happened. Arson attacks at two synagogues, one of which was set on fire...

IRVINE, Calif. — On the morning of Feb. 28, 2000, a man in a black hood ran up to Patrick Riley in front of his office, shot him flush in the face and fled. The bullet missed his brain, and Mr. Riley, a biotechnology entrepreneur, survived. But two days later, his business partner, a doctor named Larry C. Ford, killed himself with a shotgun after learning he was suspected of being the mastermind behind the shooting. That is where the story probably would have ended — a lurid but ultimately local piece of intrigue played out in the sun-splashed Orange...

The Iranian foreign ministry on Sunday denounced a “violent attack” in Sydney that targeted a Jewish celebration and killed 11 people. “We condemn the violent attack in Sydney, Australia. Terror and killing of human beings, wherever committed, is rejected and condemned,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on X. Relations between Iran and Australia have significantly deteriorated this year.

ERUSALEM, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Israel's cabinet has decided to give legal status to 19 settlements in the occupied West Bank, including two that were vacated 20 years ago under a pullout aimed at boosting the country's security and the economy, Israeli media reported. The Palestinian Authority on Friday condemned the move, announced late on Thursday. Some of the settlements are newly established, while others are older, Israeli media said. The move to legalise the settlements in the West Bank -- territory Palestinians seek for a future state -- was proposed by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Israeli Defense...

2025 HANUKKAH MASSACRE How will they justify it? Has the Australian Jewish community invaded Gaza or taken “innocent lives”? Of course not—because this has never been about Gaza. It has always been about the very existence of the Jewish people—everywhere and at all times. Tonight, we light the first Hanukkah candle and declare with clarity and conviction: Am Yisrael Chai — the people of Israel live.

US special forces raided a cargo ship travelling from China to Iran in November that was allegedly transporting "dual-use military technology," according to a report published by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Friday.Citing unnamed US officials, the WSJ revealed that a special operations team boarded the ship several hundred miles from Sri Lanka and seized the cargo, which was described as “dual-use components that could be used either for civilian applications or to make conventional weapons."Image source: US Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class William FarmerieThe ship's name, its owner, and the flag under which it was sailing...

In contrast to the warmongers, President Trump has continuously said, “I want everybody to stop dying.”So, what’s preventing peace? Russian President Putin offered peace December 25, 2022, January 6, 2023, and again on June 14, 2024, with TASS reporting Putin offered “another real peace proposal to Kiev,” stating, “These parameters were generally agreed upon by everyone back during the Istanbul talks in 2022.” Yet, all of these proposals were rejected by Zelensky, the Biden administration, and the Brennen-infested CIA.Remember, this mess started in 2014 with Biden and the CIA in Kyiv toppling the duly elected pro-Russian president of Ukraine, because...

A political science professor at the University of Arkansas stands accused of praising Iran’s Supreme Leader using the school’s letterhead and attacking Israel, The Post has learned. Shirin Saeidi, head of the school’s Middle East Studies program, also allegedly supported a convicted Iranian regime war criminal, evidence shows. Now, lawmakers and a group of Iranian dissidents are demanding administrators at the university further discipline Saeidi, who was removed from her position Friday, according to a spokesman. Saeidi used the school’s letterhead to appeal for the release of Hamid Nouri, who was convicted by a Swedish court in 2022 of ordering...

When deadly clashes erupted last July between Bedouin and Druze militias in the southern Syrian city of Sweida, some members of the Druze community living in Israel crossed the border to protect their kin. For Safi Ibrahim, an IDF colonel from the community, the crisis sparked genuine solidarity and brought emotions to the surface. As part of the events, he participated in a military operation in Syria – a mission that became deeply personal for him, fusing his military service with his identity. snip Unlike the Druze of the Galilee and Carmel – who serve proudly and prominently in the...

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization and arm of the Iranian military, seized an oil vessel allegedly carrying “smuggled diesel” in the Persian Gulf, Tehran revealed on Thursday. The unidentified ship was reportedly flying the flag of E-Swatini and was part of what Iran alleges is a massive trafficking scheme to steal Iranian oil and sell it abroad. The IRGC revealed the news on the same day that the Iranian government condemned the United States for staging a similar seizure of a ship accused of carrying illicit oil in the Caribbean following an appropriate warrant process....