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Foreign Affairs (News/Activism)

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  • Experts warn Trump administration any Iran deal must close plutonium pathway to nuclear bombs

    05/09/2026 2:24:56 PM PDT · by McGruff · 3 replies
    Fox News ^ | May 9, 2026 | Benjamin Weinthal
    Nuclear weapons experts are raising the alarm bells over the pressing need for the Trump administration to codify in any new deal a ban on Iran’s attempts to use plutonium from its facilities to build an atomic bomb. The administration and non-proliferation experts have largely focused on the Islamic Republic’s atomic weapons facilities that use uranium as the material for building nuclear bombs. Tehran could take advantage of this blind spot and covertly build a plutonium-based nuclear weapon. Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), told Fox News Digital: "I do believe any proposed deal with Iran...
  • Justice Department Moves to Denaturalize 12 Individuals for Concealing Terrorist Support, War Crimes, Espionage, Sexual Abuse, and More

    05/09/2026 10:33:26 AM PDT · by BFW · 9 replies
    DOJ ^ | Friday, May 8, 2026 | Office of Public Affairs
    The Department of Justice announced today that it filed denaturalization actions in various U.S. district courts against 12 individuals accused of serious offenses—including providing material support to a terrorist group, committing war crimes, and sexually abusing a minor. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a naturalized U.S. citizen’s citizenship may be revoked, and certificate of naturalization canceled, if the naturalization was illegally procured or procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation. “Individuals implicated in committing fraud, heinous crimes such as sexual abuse, or expressing support for terrorism should never have been naturalized as United States citizens,”...
  • 'People don't want wars anymore': Inside Lebanon's shifting calculus on Israel

    05/09/2026 7:07:53 AM PDT · by Uncle Miltie · 26 replies
    The Jerusalem Post ^ | 4/7/26 | Dana Ben-Shamon
    As Hezbollah’s grip weakens and war fatigue deepens, a growing number of Lebanese are beginning to see peace with Israel not as betrayal but as necessity For Hanin Ghaddar, returning to Lebanon would mean more than just going home. It would signal that something once unthinkable may finally be within reach: a country loosening itself from Iran’s grip and edging, however cautiously, toward peace with Israel. A veteran Lebanese journalist from a Shi’ite family in a village in southern Lebanon, Ghaddar was targeted by Hezbollah and forced to leave her homeland in 2016. And despite growing up with her country...
  • North Korean troops join Putin’s scaled-back military parade as Ukraine agrees temporary ceasefire

    05/09/2026 5:17:00 AM PDT · by Cronos · 29 replies
    NBC news ^ | May 8th, 2026
    There were no neat rows of tanks or ballistic missile carriers rolling down the smooth cobbles of Moscow’s Red Square on Saturday, as Russia scaled back what is usually a grand militaristic Victory Day parade celebrating the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany. 'Victory has always been and will be ours,” Putin said, addressing columns of troops. He vowed to fight on in Ukraine North Korean troops marched in the parade for the first time, a visible sign of Moscow’s deepening partnership with Pyongyang that has resulted in the deployment of over 10,000 troops to fight the war in...
  • Russia Victory parade: few guests, no armour and all over after only 45 minutes due to Ukraine drone strike threats

    05/09/2026 5:05:15 AM PDT · by tlozo · 23 replies
    BNE Intellinews ^ | May 9, 2026 | Ben Aris
    It was all over in record short time. Russia’s annual Victory Day on Red Square ended after only 45 minutes with no displays of any of the Armed Forces of Russia (AFR) military hardware and under extremely tight security. Tensions were running extremely high following the threat of a possible Ukrainian drone attack on the event that commemorates the end of WWII, known as the Great Patriotic war in Russia, and one of the most significant events on the Russian public calendar... Ukraine threat Security at the event was overwhelming. Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived with a very large security...
  • Starmer under pressure, as Labour suffers heavy election losses

    05/08/2026 8:43:01 PM PDT · by E. Pluribus Unum · 22 replies
    BBC ^ | May 8, 2026 | Joshua Nevett, Kate Whannel
    Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he will not quit as prime minister and "plunge the country into chaos", as Labour reels from significant election losses. The results in England, Scotland and Wales have piled pressure on Sir Keir, with some Labour MPs calling for him to set a timetable for his departure, although his cabinet allies have backed him for now. Labour has lost power in Wales, ending its 27-year rule, while the SNP remains the largest party in Scotland. Reform UK has been the big winner in England, picking up more than 1,400 seats and taking control of councils...
  • Trump blockade squeezing Iran so hard regime may be dumping oil into Gulf, experts say

    05/08/2026 6:31:29 PM PDT · by hotsteppa · 30 replies
    Satellite imagery revealed a massive suspected oil slick spreading near Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal, in what experts say could be evidence that Tehran’s oil infrastructure is buckling under mounting U.S. pressure. The slick, seen in Copernicus Sentinel satellite images between Wednesday and Friday, covered roughly 45 square kilometers west of the island, according to analysts cited by Reuters. The incident is emerging as a potential sign that Trump’s maritime pressure campaign is achieving one of its central objectives: overwhelming Iran’s export system to the point where Tehran can no longer move or store crude fast enough to...
  • Iran Says Ceasefire Broken After U.S. ‘Love Tap,’ IRGC to Launch Attacks

    05/08/2026 5:06:18 PM PDT · by Red Badger · 28 replies
    Breitbart ^ | May 08, 2026 | Frances Martel
    A spokesman for Iran’s terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) condemned the United States on Friday for conducting what U.S. Central Command referred to as “self-defense strikes” to protect American assets in the region, claiming that it had responded and caused “significant damage.” Central Command (CENTCOM), the wing of the American armed forces responsible for operations in the Middle East, revealed on Thursday that it had “intercepted unprovoked Iranian attacks and responded with self-defense strikes,” destroying the Iranian assets used in the attack. CENTCOM described a flurry of “missiles, drones, and small boats approaching American naval assets and attacking, but...
  • US intel community agreed before war 'Iran wasn't developing a nuclear weapon': ex-counterterrorism chief

    05/08/2026 12:52:47 PM PDT · by CondoleezzaProtege · 67 replies
    Fox News ^ | May 8, 2026 | Alex Nitzberg
    Former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent asserted in a post on X that prior to the start of the Iran war, the U.S. intelligence community agreed that the Islamic Republic was not developing a nuclear weapon. "One of the many tragedies of this war is that before the war began the U.S. Intel Community, including CIA, was in agreement that Iran wasn't developing a nuclear weapon & that Iran would target U.S. bases in the region & shut down the Strait of Hormuz if they were attacked by Israel & the U.S.," Kent wrote in a post on Thursday....
  • Chinese electric cars are driving into California as officials hit the panic button

    05/08/2026 12:36:17 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 38 replies
    New York Post ^ | May 8, 2026 | Daniel Farr
    A wave of low-cost Chinese-made vehicles is slipping into California through Mexico — and the issue is now headed to Washington. Panicked lawmakers are working to close a border loophole that allows cars that would never clear US safety or emissions standards to enter the country. In Mexican border cities like Tijuana’s Zona Río, dealerships are packed with new electric vehicles, hybrids, and SUVs, many of them Chinese-built and priced around $20,000. That undercuts the American market so drastically that even basic new cars cost far more in the US. Congress is now looking at the issue more critically, with...
  • Sky News Vote 2026 Live Election Results

    05/08/2026 10:02:39 AM PDT · by edwinland · 9 replies
    Sky News ^ | May 8, 2026 | Sky News
    Live election results at link
  • Iran Says It Seized Oil Tanker Listed by U.S. as Sanctions Violator

    05/08/2026 9:58:48 AM PDT · by edwinland · 22 replies
    New York Times ^ | May 8 2026 | Jenny Grosse
    Iranian state media posted a video on Friday that appeared to show Iran’s Navy seizing an oil tanker identified as the Ocean Koi. The vessel was “exploiting the conditions in the region to harm and disrupt oil exports and the interests of the Iranian nation,” the state news agency IRNA said. The tanker, carrying Iranian oil, was escorted to Iran’s southern coast. Shipping analysts said that the tanker was Chinese-owned. On Feb. 25 the U.S. Treasury Department identified the vessel as part of a shadow fleet of ships that it said Iran used in violation of U.S. sanctions. [snip] “Given...
  • Keir Starmer says he won’t quit after local elections deliver major losses for Labour and wins for Reform UK

    05/08/2026 8:43:21 AM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 23 replies
    Associated Press ^ | 05/08/2026 | JILL LAWLESS
    LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted Friday that he will not resign after bruising elections that saw his governing Labour Party suffer big losses and the hard-right party Reform UK make major gains. The local and regional elections are widely seen as unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he led Labour to power less than two years ago Voters have grown impatient for economic growth and dramatic change after 14 years of Conservative government, and many Labour lawmakers have become despairing at the government’s failure to deliver. Starmer said he took responsibility for the “very...
  • U.S. Disables 2 More Vessels Violating Blockade in Gulf of Oman

    05/08/2026 8:24:51 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 26 replies
    U.S. Central Command ^ | May 08, 2026 | Staff
    TAMPA, Fla. — U.S. forces disabled M/T Sea Star III and M/T Sevda, May 8, prior to both vessels entering an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman in violation of the ongoing U.S. blockade. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) enforced blockade measures against two Iranian-flagged unladen oil tankers attempting to pull into an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman. A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet from USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) disabled both tankers after firing precision munitions into their smokestacks, preventing the non-compliant ships from entering Iran. U.S. forces also disabled Iranian-flagged M/T Hasna, May 6, as...
  • British PM to double down after his party got CRUSHED in yesterday’s local elections

    05/08/2026 8:19:11 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 9 replies
    Not The Bee ^ | May 08, 2026 | Joel Abbott
    United Kingdom Keir Starmer Last night, Britain's Labour Party got absolutely trounced in local elections. The BBC has a live tracker with only a portion of the results in as of Friday morning Eastern time. This is what it looked like at time of publishing: The Labour Party, which currently controls Parliament, lost hundreds of seats. Despite being billed as "center-left" by the fake news, it is actually to the left of American Democrats on almost every issue. Voters in the UK just resoundingly rejected them at the polls. The prime minister, Keir Starmer, responded to the voice of the...
  • Marco Rubio meets with Pope Leo at Vatican to discuss Middle East, international situation

    05/08/2026 8:09:55 AM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 30 replies
    Zeale ^ | 05/08/2026
    Secretary of State Marco Rubio met privately with Pope Leo XIV and other Vatican officials May 7 to discuss the Middle East, the Western Hemisphere, and the need to promote peace and human dignity, according to statements from the Vatican and U.S. officials. Met with @Pontifex to underscore our shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity. pic.twitter.com/BIZ9SfW5nY— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) May 7, 2026In a statement released after the meeting, the Vatican said the “cordial discussions” first took place between Rubio and Pope Leo before later talks involving Rubio, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Archbishop Paul...
  • Trump calls US strikes on Iran a ‘love tap’ after destroyers targeted in Strait of Hormuz

    05/08/2026 7:30:05 AM PDT · by Alas Babylon! · 55 replies
    Fox News ^ | 8 May 2026 | Greg Norman-Diamond, Emma Bussey and Jennifer Griffin
    President Donald Trump said Thursday that retaliatory strikes against Iranian targets were “just a love tap." The strikes came as U.S. Central Command said Iranian forces “launched multiple missiles, drones and small boats” while the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers USS Truxtun, USS Rafael Peralta and USS Mason were transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
  • Starmer’s Labour suffers huge losses as hard-right Reform gains in U.K. elections

    05/08/2026 7:15:43 AM PDT · by devane617 · 31 replies
    NBCNews ^ | 05/08/2026
    LONDON — Early results Friday from nationwide elections in Britain suggested a historic drubbing for Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party and sweeping gains for hard-right Reform U.K., led by Trump ally Nigel Farage. Though many results were still coming in Friday morning, the overall picture will heap pressure on Starmer, an unpopular leader beset by speculation his colleagues may move against him. “The results are tough, they are very tough, and there’s no sugarcoating it,” Starmer said Friday. But he dismissed calls for him to stand down.
  • The Left Got Absolutely Destroyed in Thursday's UK Elections, but Who Won Is Even Better News

    05/08/2026 6:38:17 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 41 replies
    Red State ^ | May 08, 2026 | Bonchie
    And now time for some good news. The ruling Labour Party in the United Kingdom got absolutely destroyed in Thursday's local council elections. While the votes are still being tallied, they could see a net loss of over 1,500 seats. In short, it was bad for Prime Minister Keir Starmer and company. Really, really bad. Keep in mind, the first post is of declared seats (as of this writing) while the second post is a projection of where things will end up when all the votes are counted. ============================================================== GB Politics @GBPolitcs 🚨NEW: State of the Parties at 2PM: Seats...
  • EU country ‘punishing’ the elderly with crazy meat restriction of just 2.8 ounces per day — because they ‘screwed up’ the climate

    05/08/2026 5:37:40 AM PDT · by Twotone · 44 replies
    NY Post ^ | May 6, 2026 | Anthony Blair
    An eco-warrior politician has sparked outrage in Denmark after she defended guidelines limiting residents of government-run nursing homes to just 2.8 ounces of beef a week — which is less than one Big Mac. Birgitte Kehler Holst of the left-wing green Danish party The Alternative was also accused of saying old people in nursing homes should be “punished” by restricting their meat intake in comments made in a meeting of Copenhagen’s City Council on April 30. She was speaking against plans to exclude nursing home residents from guidelines in the Danish capital that restrict meals at government-run sites to just...