By Hélène de LAUNZUN

Contact us: info@strategic-culture.su

Franco-German combat aircraft programme collapses after years of disputes, showcasing the difficulty with military cooperation within the EU.

Rumours had been circulating for many months, but it was confirmed on Monday, June 8th: France and Germany have decided to abandon the core joint fighter plane component of their joint Future Combat Aircraft System (FCAS) project. With it goes a project that symbolised ambitions for deeper military cooperation between the two countries.

The project was launched in 2017 on the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron and then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Its aim was to replace, by 2040, the French Rafale and the German-Spanish Eurofighter. After months of stalled progress, Chancellor Friedrich Merz and President Macron agreed that the main industrial partners involved in the project—Dassault Aviation on the French side and Airbus Defence and Space on the German-Spanish side—were clearly unable to work together because of diverging interests.

It was one of Europe’s largest military programmes, with an estimated total cost of €100 billion. The technological ambition was highly advanced: more than just a fighter jet, the system was to integrate combat drones, connected sensors and a next-generation digital network, thereby forming what was described as a ‘combat cloud.’

Disagreements between the industrial parties have multiplied in recent months, centring on the sharing of industrial responsibilities, intellectual property, and the governance of the project. In the spring, Macron was still insisting he believed in it, but progress remained elusive.

For defence expert Jean-Dominique Merchet, the programme had in fact been “on life support” for several months, and the German decision to formalise the end merely confirmed a shared recognition of irreconcilable industry positions rather than a unilateral move. The fact that the announcement came from Berlin—without a joint statement from partner countries France and Spain—confirms the major political setback for Macron, who has been the project’s main champion since its launch in 2017. According to Merchet, the announcement definitively confirms the now insurmountable disagreements between Dassault Aviation and Airbus over the development of the fighter plane intended to form the core of the programme. The analyst is now questioning the future of the other components of the FCAS, notably the combat cloud, the engines, and the support drones. This failure could undermine another major Franco-German project, the future European battle tank, which is itself already facing numerous difficulties.

Similar frictions have affected other joint efforts in recent years. In some cases, one side  has withdrawn or scaled back its commitment—as in the case of the Tiger helicopter, where Germany backed out, or the Eurodrone, where France is currently discussing exit terms; in others, like the MAWS maritime patrol programme and the CIFS future artillery system, it’s due to delays, differing priorities, and mutual strain.

For both countries, the failure tests their ability to advance next-generation capabilities.

For France, the failure of the FCAS will test the national defence industry’s ability to bounce back. France must now consider the possibility of a new-generation programme that it would lead alone or in cooperation with other potential partners such as Sweden, Italy, India or the United Arab Emirates. Germany is expected to consider options including additional F-35 acquisitions or interest in alternative collaborative frameworks.

The failure of the FCAS is highly symbolic at a time when, under American pressure, Europe was seeking to assert its strategic autonomy. The programme, which symbolised Europe’s ability to carry out its major armaments projects autonomously in the face of the United States and China, illustrates above all the persistent difficulties European states face in effectively coordinating their industrial, strategic, and national interests.

Original article:  europeanconservative.com

By Kit KLARENBERG

Contact us: info@strategic-culture.su

Leaked documents reviewed by The Grayzone expose how the Soros-run Open Society Foundations plotted to “prevent the continuation” of Indonesia’s elected government by bankrolling opposition media, youth activists groups and lawfare operations to remove President Prabowo Subianto.

Ever since the election of Prabowo Subianto as Indonesia’s President in February 2024, Jakarta has faced continuous waves of anti-government protests. Activists enraged by harsh economic conditions and elite corruption have taken to the streets in vast numbers, often engaging in fiery clashes with police and the military. A series of leaks obtained by The Grayzone indicate this upheaval has unfolded according to a well-honed plan to take down Prabowo, which drew on organic grievances but which depended heavily on funding the Open Society Foundations.

Founded by anti-communist billionaire George Soros in 1993, OSF has been described by The New York Times as “a sprawling political and philanthropic empire,” which “seeks to advance a liberal, democratic agenda.” The Washington Post described Soros as part of a network of “overt operators” carrying out “spyless coups” that were once the purview of the CIA during the Cold War. OSF has acknowledged its central role in numerous insurrections throughout the Global South.

The leaked files reveal how from 2019 onwards, OSF began pumping large sums into projects designed to promote “resistance and dissent” against Prabowo’s predecessor, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. Much of this money has been distributed by the Jakarta-based Kurawal Foundation, the single largest recipient of OSF contributions between 2019 and 2024. Founded in 2019, Kurawal describes itself as “a social justice philanthropy…[endeavouring] to promote dignified and benevolent democracy in Indonesia and Southeast Asia.”

The organization sponsors “individuals and agents,” who can be relied upon to advance Western liberal values locally. In the leaks, Kurawal described its efforts to develop an ideal voter who would be impervious to the scourge of Prabowo-associated disinformation. This meant “cultivating a wise and virtuous democrat – as political subject – who adheres to the essential principles of democracy.” The leaks show the intended subject was anything but.

Kurawal’s OSF-funded activities intensified in late 2023, as Indonesia geared up for the Presidential election in February the next year. Prabowo, Joko’s chosen successor, won by landslide in a vote international observers judged legitimate. However, the leaks show Kurawal used its local assets to whip up a frenzy over supposedly “massive” fraud by Prabowo, fomenting so much public pressure that authorities changed electoral rules to allow more parties to run for office in 2029. (Kurawal did not respond to a request for comment from The Grayzone).

In order to topple Prabowo, OSF has financed the grooming of prospective future politicians, outreach to existing political parties, and the creation of new movements and factions that could field candidates for office locally. Simultaneously, OSF bankrolled a range of self-proclaimed ‘independent’ media outlets and activist groups, who they sought to train “to become agents of change.” In leaked documents, Kurawal boasts that its “youth political engagement” activities mean young Indonesians are “at the forefront of most social and political movements… shaping conversations on national policies.”

Kurawal’s meddling in Indonesia has global implications. Mass “Gen Z” protests that erupted in July 2025 and raged for weeks have been hailed by Western corporate media as a revolutionary inspiration for anti-government activists elsewhere. It was in Jakarta where protesters first waved cartoon Jolly Roger flags inspired by Japanese manga One Piece. A map found in the tranche of leaks notes that Kurawal is active in several countries where these flags have appeared, including in protests which have produced regime change, such as in Nepal.

Kurawal encourages ‘agitation and pushback’ against Joko

A leaked February 2025 Kurawal document called “Building Bridges, Filling Gaps,” charts a clear “strategic plan” for regime change in Indonesia and beyond, 2024 – 2029. The file was produced after five years of systematically undermining President Joko’s administration, “by providing support to civil society groups, social movement actors, and thought leaders as well as change makers who do not shy away from politically sensitive issues.” This was motivated by “Indonesia’s growing political and economic clout”, and regional influence, under his rule.

The document describes Joko scathingly, as a “pilferer” and “opportunist”, while slamming his supposedly “inward looking foreign policy.” In reality, Joko prioritized protecting Indonesia’s sovereignty, irritating Western powers by rubbishing bogus CIA-disseminated claims of “genocide” in Xinjiang, refusing to recognize Israel, and pushing for peace in Ukraine.

By “promoting dissent” during his last term in office, Kurawal sought to lay foundations for even greater attacks against Prabowo. As a leaked file explains, “the agitation and pushback was needed to show that dissent is both necessary and possible.” Resultantly, “vibrant citizen movements” that could “challenge power” and “organize and influence change” sprouted locally, with OSF help.

Kurawal’s “program taxonomy” between 2019 and 2024 focused heavily on driving “youth political engagement,” encouraging young Indonesians to attend protests, join civil society campaigns and hone social media skills. As such, the organization’s students “actively set a higher standard of accountability of political leaders,” while “shaping conversations on national policies,” and “challenging traditional political organizing.” These efforts were to be enhanced by what Kurawal called “networks or alliances among social justice groups,” legal advocacy and a new lobbying machine.

Kurawal also financed local media outlets to promote stories of purported malfeasance and other abuses of power by authorities. For example, the organization sponsored a “series of in-depth reporting on police corruption and brutality cases in prominent public interest media,” combined with “social media campaigns” while “forming a national coalition for police reform” to “ramp up public pressure.” This was cited as “one of the bright spots” in Kurawal’s work in Indonesia, during the pre-Prabowo period.

For example, in 2021, Kurawal launched TempoWitness, an online portal which claimed to connect “citizen journalists at community level with mainstream local and national media.” By contrast, Tempo has been a vehicle for slanderous attacks on independent journalists raising questions about Western financing of anti-government media outlets and NGOs in Indonesia. Among its top targets is Brian Berletic, a US citizen who resides in Thailand and specializes in exposing covert Western funding of opposition political forces in the region.

Kurawal has also sponsored documentary films, photography, and experimental art in Indonesia. The purpose is to “elicit action from citizens and community.” This included the Jakarta International Photo Festival, the region’s largest. The events attracted tens of thousands of visitors, enabling Kurawal to shepherd them into a “side event” on the subject of democracy. During these sessions, attendees were given instruction on how to use “photography and visual storytelling” in the pursuit of “democracy and human rights.”

National ‘roadshow’ to ‘radicalize’ Indonesians

When Joko left office, he enjoyed record-high approval ratings. In its “Building Bridges, Filling Gaps” document, Kurawal reluctantly acknowledged the outgoing president was “able to maintain popular public support” in an organic fashion through what they described as “populist social welfare policies.”

The leaked document notes Prabowo would continue his predecessor’s legacy, “emphasizing policies to enhance social welfare, reduce poverty, and eliminate hunger.” A dedicated section called “Bracing for the Prabowo years” outlines the new president’s likely stances and strategy over his first term in office, and how his rule can be undermined.

The leaks reveal how Kurawal released a documentary called “Dirty Vote” immediately upon Prabowo’s election claiming to expose “how instruments of power are used to manipulate elections, undermine democratic order, and maintain the status quo,” and calling “for collective action to safeguard democracy.” The video racked up over 20 million views on YouTube as Kurawal screened it across Indonesia’s university campuses throughout February and March 2024. The dedicated “roadshow” was promoted as “a moral call to protect democracy’s future from systemic abuse and electoral fraud.”

The “Dirty Vote” documentary’s narrative tracked closely with claims of fraud in the February 2024 Indonesian elections by opposition elements. While Jakarta’s Constitutional Court rejected all formal legal challenges to the vote’s results in April that year, Kurawal boasted that its propaganda efforts cemented “widespread voter grievance” over what it called “massive election fraud.” The outcry successfully triggered reforms to Indonesian electoral laws, which previously required parties receive 20% of parliamentary votes to field presidential candidates.

When authorities caved to the opposition’s pressure in January 2025, Kurawal declared, “this means that at the next election, for the first time in the country’s history, political parties big and small will be free to nominate candidates on their own.”

The newly leaked documents echoed the contents of leaked files revealing that in June 2023, the US Embassy in Jakarta privately expressed concern about Prabowo’s almost inevitably impending victory, and planned to overturn the 20% threshold in response.

If the threshold were removed, “there will be more candidates in the election,” US embassy officials noted. In such a scenario, they concluded “the US will have more options” within the field of local candidates.

After the 20% rule was changed, Kurawal said it was well-placed to “set up alternative political groupings among civil society actors,” placing special emphasis on “women, youth, environmental rights defenders.” If successful, Kurawal would oversee “their possible transformation [into] new political parties.” The group wrote that it sought to use “infiltration or pressure” to “transform and radicalize” existing parties and “mobilize the masses against the established party system.”

The document concludes by fretting that the Global South is moving “from the periphery of the international political and economic arena towards the centre,” with countries such as Brazil, India and Indonesia cultivating “enough economic and political clout to emerge as regional or global powers,” and “active agents” in the international order. In turn, this has precipitated a global shift towards “multipolarity at a faster speed.” Kurawal lamented that many of these emerging powers do not subscribe to neoliberal Western governance models.

However, the organization expressed optimism about the prospects for insurrectionary change in troublesome countries, noting how Asia “witnessed some extraordinary demonstrations of ‘people power’ in 2024,” courtesy of “civil society leaders and pro-democracy activists.” Cited examples included the removal of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, and the August student-led military coup in Bangladesh.

The Grayzone has exposed how the latter was the handiwork of individuals and organizations sponsored by the National Endowment for Democracy, a known CIA cutout.

Exploiting ‘Gen-Z’ to block Prabowo’s re-election

Other leaks show how in August 2025, Ekspedisi Indonesia Baru was awarded tens of thousands of dollars by Kurawal for a project titled “Expedition to Discover New Voices”. The purpose is to transform “younger generations” of Indonesians “to become agents of change.” This is to be achieved by “[mainstreaming] alternative ideas about a ‘New Indonesia’ by distributing public knowledge through documentary films, books, and community discussions that are widely accessible to the public, especially young people.”

 

Among the initiative’s explicitly stated “desired outcomes” is “stronger engagement from younger generations (Gen Z and Gen Alpha) in public discourse, along with greater courage to dream, speak up, and take action for Indonesia’s future.” This will hopefully precipitate “rising interest in alternative political actors” among the public, prior to Jakarta’s 2029 general election, “with an aim to elect political leaders dedicated to democracy and social equity,” so as to “prevent the continuation” of Prabowo’s rule.

“Key activities” to be conducted include “producing a documentary series” for YouTube channel Indonesia Baru “and other digital platforms,” a “public presentation roadshow” throughout the country to “spread ideas”, and “developing factual short-form content (TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts) on violent suppression by military and police forces, government corruption, forced land acquisition, and youth resistance to undemocratic policies.” For the latter initiative, Ekspedisi Indonesia Baru seeks to enlist “young creatives who can bring fresh perspectives and formats aligned with their peers’ digital behavior and preferences.”

Another key programming strand was publication of a book, Restart Indonesia, released in October 2025 under the revised title Reset Indonesia. A local media report on the forthcoming work quoted its lead author: “Reset is a more fitting description of the book’s content, which indeed proposes a reprogramming of Indonesia, not just a restart.” While only 2,000 copies have been printed to date, another contributor hoped many more would read the book.

“If a horror film in theaters can attract four million viewers, here’s a book that’s just as horrific,” they explained.

In July 2025, Sophia Nusantara Association was also furnished with tens of thousands of dollars in Soros financing through Kurawal, for a project titled “Guardian of Ecological Democracy” in Papua. Leaked documents described this student group as part of “the vanguard of resistance” against Indonesia’s government. Leaked documents related to the project boast how OSF’s local campus-based proxies have access to media, national networks, and modern documentation tools that can mobilize broad support.”

Kurawal foresaw its student footsoldiers “using art, research, and technology as tools of creative resistance,” managing “online campaigns and offline campaigns,” and convening “cultural festivals as a symbol of resistance.” In particular, Indonesian environmental protection issues were to be exploited as an “intellectual weapon,” to stoke public anger and “policy pressures” within Indonesia’s Presidential palace. Predicting such activity would create a potentially dangerous environment for students, Kurawal pledged to provide them with “security training” and to establish “safe houses on campus.”

‘Fighting authoritarianism with legal weapons’

In late August 2025, large-scale student-led demonstrators erupted across Indonesia. After days of extraordinary clashes, the government pledged concessions in response to protesters’ demands. The upheaval was one of Jakarta’s largest since the ousting of the CIA-installed dictator Suharto in 1998. Unrest quickly turned violent, with rioters attacking police, torching multiple government building, and looting the homes of elected parliamentarians. Local security forces initiated a heavy crackdown on the violent riots which claimed lives, leading to condemnations from groups including the OSF-funded Human Rights Watch.

At the forefront of the campaign to prosecute officials – whether nationally or internationally – was the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI). Perhaps unsurprisingly, the organization has received enormous sums from OSF, via Kurawal Foundation. The leaks show YLBHI received a substantial grant from Kurawal just one month prior to the protests, to provide “critical legal education” to civil society groups, student organizations and indigenous communities to document purported abuses by authorities, and launch litigation “at the national level and through international human rights law mechanisms.”

Moreover, YLBHI’s OSF-bankrolled lawfare operations are explicitly intended to undermine the National Strategic Project instituted under President Joko in 2016. The project’s aim is to finance local infrastructure in order to generate economic growth and regional development. The effort has ignited controversy, however, due to concerns over land rights, potential environmental damage, and displacement of indigenous communities. With OSF financing, YLBHI aims to “raise critical awareness” of issues related to the National Strategic Project’s implementation.

Another target of the grant is “fighting authoritarianism with the use of legal weapons.” YLBHI is to “collaborate with local [and international] legal teams and legal experts to establish a legal aid team that can provide a rapid response, aiming to provide necessary legal assistance to social activists experiencing pressure” from authorities. These efforts will be “continuously” promoted, in order “to gain support and response from the Global South, thereby protecting the legitimate rights and interests of indigenous peoples and activists.”

With millions pumped into Kurawal over the years, it is evident Soros’ foundation is determined to stymie Prabowo in the next election. While he may not remain in office to face his opponents at the ballot box, one thing is clear: his replacement will be owe a debt of gratitude to some powerful forces overseas.

Original article:  thegrayzone.com

By Chris HEDGES

Contact us: info@strategic-culture.su

The war on Iran has not only ended in a humiliating defeat for the United States, but resulted in a dramatic shift in the balance of power in the Middle East and the Global South.

The humiliating defeat of Israel and the United States in their war on Iran, along with the savagery of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, are ushering in a new world order.

This order is one where voices of reason and stability emanate not from the West — which spent tens of billions of dollars sustaining Israel’s genocide — but from the Global South, including China. It is an order where alliances are being rapidly reconfigured to protect countries from a rogue American state that lashes out like a wounded beast, as it spirals toward terminal decline.

The end of the U.S. Empire, led by an impetuous and clueless Donald Trump, is irreversible.

The U.S. has lost its sixth war in the Middle East in 25 years. Iran’s power has been enhanced not only because it — along with Oman — controls the Strait of Hormuz — where roughly 25 percent of the world’s seaborne oil and 20 percent of the world’s seaborne liquified natural gas pass through — but because it has delivered a stark message, with its drones and missiles, to U.S. allies and bases in the region, while sending the global economy into a tailspin.

Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who reportedly lured Trump into the war with Alice-in-Wonderland visions of easy regime change in Iran following the decapitation strikes against the country on Feb. 28, which included the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other political and military figures, along with 168 school children and their teachers — may strike Iran again.

They are desperate. But a renewed bombing of Iran will not work. Iran’s mosaic defense strategy ensures all political and military commanders are easily replaced.

Iran can strangle the world economy by closing the Strait of Hormuz. It can accelerate the pain by getting its Yemeni allies — Ansar Allah — to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea, just as they did to Israel-bound ships when defending Palestinians after Oct. 7.

This could result in a complete blockade. Saudi Arabia, with the Bab el-Mandeb Strait open, is able to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and export 5 million barrels a day through its pipeline to tankers in the Red Sea port of Yanbu.

If a ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is not reached soon, the global economy will crash, perhaps within weeks. The U.S. and its allies, such as Japan, have released some of their extensive strategic oil reserves, however they will not be able to cushion markets indefinitely.

Stockpiles in America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve are near their lowest in more than 40 years. Once these reserves are depleted, the price of fuel will skyrocket. If a barrel of oil shoots up to $200, the price at the pump could climb as high as $10 per gallon. This, coupled with shortages of other petroleum-based products, along with nitrogen fertilizer, aluminum and helium — an indispensable element in the production of MRI machines and semiconductors — are already shutting down vital industries and driving up prices on basic commodities.

The World Bank projects a 31 percent increase in the cost of nitrogen fertilizers alone — which are produced in the Persian Gulf and transit through the Strait of Hormuz — if the war continues. This will mean a steep rise in the price of food.

Trump is like a dog being pushed unwillingly into a crate. When it appears a deal with Iran is close, he snarls and barks, sabotaging the proposed 30-to-60-day ceasefire agreement. Netanyahu’s apoplectic fits about any agreement that would halt Israeli attacks against Lebanon, along with the potential release of some of Iran’s estimated $100 billion in frozen assets, spurs Trump’s momentary defiance.

But the clock is ticking. There is little time left. And the longer Trump waits, the worse it will get. Neither Trump, nor Netanyahu, are the masters of this game. Iran holds the cards.

Israel’s dream of formalizing its hegemony over the Middle East, codified in the Abraham Accords during Trump’s first term — which normalized relations between Israel and regional states — is dead. This war and the genocide in Gaza killed it.

Trump is attempting to revive them by inserting them into a deal to end the war on Iran. He has demanded states previously uninvolved with the Abraham Accords, such as Pakistan and eventually, Iran, sign up to normalize relations with Israel. Pakistan — the only state to publicly respond — rejected the invitation due to what it called a clash with the country’s “fundamental ideologies.” Every other state Trump appealed to reacted with bewildered silence.

Iran demands the removal of sanctions and an end to the naval blockade — which the Central Intelligence Agency concluded Iran can endure for months before it experiences severe economic hardship — in exchange for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The proposed agreement makes no mention of Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal, which U.S. military and intelligence officials believe remains at 70 percent pre-war levels, according to The New York Times.

Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and Qatar — a lead negotiator with Hamas — are the new powerbrokers in the region.

Pakistan not only signed a mutual defense pact with Saudi Arabia in 2025, it deployed troops, jets and air defense systems to the Gulf dictatorship in April. It has also been hosting ceasefire talks between Trump’s Dumb and Dumber duo of lead negotiators — his feckless son-in-law Jared Kushner and fellow real estate developer and golfing partner, Steve Witkoff.

The war has enhanced the prestige and power of China, which compared to Washington is seen globally as embodying rational, prudent and stable leadership. Iran, in a sign of the new global order, permits Chinese and Pakistani tankers, along with other ships not allied with Israel and the U.S., to travel through the Strait.

Israel, unable to convince the U.S. to do its dirty work of bombing Iran into a failed state, will, I expect, strike out with renewed fury against Gaza, perhaps occupying the remaining 30 percent of what is left of the besieged territory. It will continue its Gaza-like policy of turning every structure south of Lebanon’s Litani River into rubble, which it bombs daily despite Iran stating that attacks on Lebanon violate the current ceasefire agreement.

Trump’s savagery and bluster – he threatened to “blow up” Oman if it fails to “behave” after reports of Oman jointly charging tolls with Iran for ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz – cannot mask the impotence of the U.S.

The refusal by America’s allies to heed Trump’s call to help him reopen the Strait, along with the economic misery visited on nations struggling to cope with shortages and the rising costs of energy and fertilizer supplies, are stark evidence of Washington’s pariah status.

Empires, blinded by the myth of their own omnipotence and military superiority, blunder at the final stages into conflicts with little understanding of where they are headed. They alienate their allies. They stumble from one military fiasco to the next, as the U.S. has done for over two decades in the Middle East.

The British Empire in 1956, already in precipitous decline, was humiliated when it conspired with France and Israel to seize the Suez Canal, which Gamal Abdel Nasser had nationalized. The U.S. forced all three countries to halt the invasion. Britain’s pound sterling gave way to the petrodollar. It signaled the last chapter of the British Empire.

The war on Iran is Washington’s Suez Crisis.

This may not be the end of the American Empire, but it is the beginning of the end.

Original article:  consortiumnews.com

By Ron PAUL

Contact us: info@strategic-culture.su

Not since the notorious 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) provided for indefinite detention of American citizens, has the annual funding bill been as misused as this year. Embedded in the bill is an insult to every American who values our national sovereignty. The NDAA’s Section 224, the “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative,” would “integrate” the Israeli military with our own, fusing technology, production, intelligence-sharing, and more.

As Ben Freeman wrote last week in Responsible Statecraft:

“The US and Israel already work together heavily on missile defense, but this provision would greatly expand coordination to seemingly every area of defense tech, including AI, quantum, autonomous systems, directed energy, cyber, biotech, and many more. It also proposes ‘network integration’ and ‘data fusion.’ In other words, the US military’s data could soon be the Israeli military’s data.”

It is hard to think of a more “America last” position than handing the keys to the Pentagon (and our intelligence community) to a foreign country.

The insanity of Section 224 is made even more clear with news over the weekend that the Pentagon has raised to “critical” the threat level of Israel spying on the United States and its officials!

We should not “integrate” our military with any foreign country or organization, but integrating with a country that is a “critical” espionage threat to our national security? How does this make any sense?

The “problem” for American lawmakers is that after the killing in Gaza and now Lebanon, the American people – particularly younger Americans – have turned sharply against the US relationship with Israel. This foreign entanglement has sucked billions from the US treasury over the decades, and it has sucked us into endless conflict in the Middle East, including the current US war on Iran.

Rather than listen to the will of their constituents, Congress has decided to defy the wishes of Americans in favor of the wishes of a foreign government. AIPAC largely controls our Congress and passing Section 224 would be a great victory for the foreign lobby.

It should come as no surprise that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorses Section 224. He may have written it for all we know!

Should Section 224 remain in the NDAA, it would essentially remove future Congresses from any role in determining what level of support, cooperation, and oversight should be included in the US relationship with Israel. It would be worse even than President Obama’s 10 year guaranteed US financial support for Israel. Funding would not only be on autopilot, but the US would be further drawn into Israel’s multiple wars with its neighbors. Worse even than backing up Israel in its regional wars, the wars themselves would become ours.

Americans must speak out against plans to integrate our military with any foreign country. What we should be doing is disentangling from these overseas obligations, whether they be NATO or support for Ukraine or backing Taiwan against China.

We already spend more than a trillion dollars a year on our own military and our national debt is nearing $40 trillion. Taking on the obligation to fight even more wars overseas will hasten our bankruptcy. Section 224 must be stricken from the NDAA and it is up to every American who cares about our sovereignty to demand that Congress do so.

Original article:  ronpaulinstitute.org

By John WHITEHEAD’S

Contact us: info@strategic-culture.su

“We’re gonna win so much, you may even get tired of winning.”—Donald Trump

Donald Trump promised Americans they would get tired of winning.

If this is what winning looks like, America can’t afford much more of it.

We are losing ground economically. We are losing credibility abroad. We are losing tourists, workers, stability, trust, constitutional guardrails, and whatever remained of the illusion that the government answers to “we the people.”

The tourism economy is taking a hit, with international visitors increasingly reluctant to come to the United States. Even migration—the lifeblood of America’s economic growth, innovation, labor force and national renewal—is now moving in the wrong direction. Fewer people are coming in, more Americans are leaving, and by some estimates the country has already crossed into negative net migration.

That is not the mark of a nation “winning.” It is the mark of a nation people are increasingly choosing to escape.

Even the looming World Cup—normally an economic windfall for tourism, travel and hospitality—is being shadowed by the administration’s immigration crackdown, detention protests and threats to disrupt international travel at key airports.

That is what happens when a nation treats visitors, immigrants and dissenters as threats first and human beings second: people stop coming, businesses suffer, and fear becomes official policy.

The economy, despite the administration’s relentless victory laps, is flashing warning signs: downgraded growth, strained consumers, rising costs, depleted savings, and policy chaos that leaves families, small businesses and entire industries guessing what fresh disruption tomorrow will bring.

We are being worn down by the losses.

Meanwhile, the man who promised to end wars has presided over their continuation and expansion. The man who promised to bring prices down has helped drive uncertainty up. The man who promised to drain the swamp has turned government into a spoils system for loyalists, cronies, contractors, oligarchs and power brokers. The man who promised law and order has treated the law as something to be weaponized against enemies and waived for friends.

This is not winning.

This is the slow-motion defeat of a constitutional republic by spectacle, grievance, greed and brute force.

The losses are piling up.

Americans were told they would get prosperity. What they got was an economy in which corporate profits and stock market gains mask the fact that ordinary households are stretched thin, savings are shrinking, debt is mounting, and the cost of basic necessities keeps eating away at wages.

They were told tariffs would punish foreign governments and bring jobs home. What they got were higher costs passed down to consumers, retaliation, supply disruptions, and a trade policy built less on strategy than on political theater. Even the courts have begun treating the tariff agenda as what it is: economic policy by executive improvisation, with judges striking down or narrowing tariff maneuvers while the administration keeps looking for new legal workarounds.

They were told immigration crackdowns would make America stronger. What they got was a nation frightening away the workers, students, tourists, entrepreneurs and families who have long helped power its economy.

They were told America would be respected again. What they got was a country increasingly viewed as unstable, hostile, unpredictable and unsafe—not merely by adversaries, but by allies, visitors, investors and would-be partners.

They were told the wars would end. What they got was more war talk, more military escalation, more blank checks for the war machine, and more excuses for expanding executive power in the name of national security.

They were told the Constitution would be restored. What they got was a president who declared, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”

Listen carefully when any ruler says something like that.

That is not constitutionalism. That is the language of kings, dictators and strongmen who believe their intentions place them above the law.

The Constitution was written precisely to prevent that kind of thinking from taking root in America.

The problem with Trump’s brand of winning is that it requires Americans to lose.

For the police state to win, the Fourth Amendment must lose.

For the surveillance state to win, privacy must lose.

For the war machine to win, peace must lose.

For the executive branch to win, the separation of powers must lose.

For the oligarchs to win, working families must lose.

For the propaganda machine to win, truth must lose.

For a strongman to win, the Constitution must lose.

Trump’s “winning” is simply the latest branding campaign for an old con: convince the people they are winning while stripping them of the power to govern themselves.

Call it what you will—national security, border security, economic nationalism, law and order, anti-corruption, emergency authority, America First—but when the end result is more government power and less individual freedom, we should know by now who is really winning.

The winners are the same as always: the defense contractors, data brokers, private prison operators, surveillance companies, lobbyists, political insiders, Wall Street speculators, government contractors, partisan enforcers, donors with access, loyalists seeking payouts, and bureaucratic power centers that thrive on fear, crisis and control.

The losers are “we the people.”

This is the hard truth Americans must face: a government that promises to make you “win” by taking power away from someone else will eventually take power away from you, too.

Rights are not partisan. Due process is not partisan. Free speech is not partisan. Privacy is not partisan. Limits on executive power are not partisan. The Constitution is not supposed to be a campaign prop, a legal technicality or a speed bump on the road to political victory.

The Constitution is the contract that binds the government down.

Without it, all we have are rulers and subjects.

That is why the real measure of any administration is not how loudly it boasts, how many enemies it punishes, how many executive orders it signs, how many troops it deploys, how many agencies it purges, or how many headlines it dominates.

The real measure is whether the people are freer, safer in their rights, more secure in their property, more protected from government abuse, and more capable of holding power accountable.

By that measure, we are not winning.

We are losing in all the ways that matter.

A president can call it winning. A party can call it winning. The media can package it as winning. The crowds can chant along.

But as I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, if the price is the Constitution, then we all lose.

Original article:  www.rutherford.org

By Philip GIRALDI 

Contact us: info@strategic-culture.su

Israel will benefit enormously and Americans will bear the burden

There is near certainty that Section 224 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2027 will pass through the House of Representatives to become law this coming week after a failed attempt last Thursday in the House Armed Services Committee to pass an amendment to delete it led by Democratic Party Congressman Ro Khanna and Republican Thomas Massie. The NDAA will now be awaiting only the fully expected signature of Israel’s servant President Donald Trump on the Act to become part of the nation’s legislative package that will set the rules and regulations that the nation’s defense will operate under. It will, unfortunately, also set up through Section 224 a “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative” that integrates “US-Israeli military research and development, co-production of weapons systems, licensing agreements, AI, directed energy, data integration, and missile defense.” It also creates the framework for “bilateral research and development, co-production of weapons, joint ventures, licensing agreements, and seemingly every manner of US-Israeli military-industrial complex cooperation.” The Director of the “Initiative” will be responsible for the coordination of the work and it is already being suggested that he will be an Israeli. And the funding will come 100% from the US Treasury by way of the budgeted allocation of $1.5 trillion that has been requested for the US military in 2027.

The result is to completely connect the functionality of the US military with that of the Israeli military in what has been described as an equal partnership that will include the government of Israel and its Israeli Defense Force as full participants. There will be full intelligence sharing and a planning process that will determine many aspects of how the American Department of War (sic) procures its weapons and equipment and establishes its strategic goals. This is plausibly the hidden story behind why Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been slyly suggesting that Israel might in future forego the $3.8 billion in annual automatic “aid” (which some refer to as “tribute”) from the US Treasury, a process begun by President Barack Obama. Netanyahu, working through his accomplices in the White House and the US Congress, clearly would have known in advance that a much larger slice of the pie was on its way via Section 224.

Those politicians who have sponsored and promoted 224 inevitably cite how the Jewish state is a major “ally and best friend” even though it is neither, but they ignore the dark side fact that it is also a genocidal state whose leaders have been condemned by international courts for multiple war crimes that is hated by most of the world. And this hatred has rubbed off on the United States, which is Israel’s principal source of arms, money and political cover. The slaughter in Gaza and now in Lebanon would not occur without the support of Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

And there’s more, coming from the Senate which is doing something similar via the FY27 Intel Authorization bill which will make US intelligence sharing with Israel mandatory. The bill in question is S-4615, introduced on May 20^th by leading Israel Firster Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas. The full text is here. S-4615 includes Section 622, entitled “US-Israel intelligence sharing enhancement.” This new section would establish as law (where it would apply forever, unless repealed by Congress) new US national security-related obligations with respect to Israel. It includes a Statement of Policy: “(1) To maintain and strengthen the strategic security partnership with Israel as a means of advancing the national defense of the United States… (2) To enhance intelligence collaboration through robust intelligence sharing and analytic partnership with Israel… (4) To ensure that security assistance and defense cooperation are structured to help Israel maintain its qualitative military edge…”

When the Intel Authorization Bill comes up for a vote in the Senate it will no doubt pass due to the Republican Majority supplemented by the usual Israel Firsters among the Democrats. And to complete the takeover by Israel there is a bill moving through Congress that will give US military benefits to American citizens, often Israeli dual nationals, who serve in the Israeli military, to include educational and medical benefits unavailable to other Americans who have not served in the US armed forces. Ironically, Israel’s new status as America’s partner in national security and warfare coming from both parts of Congress is not shared with any of Washington’s actual allies in NATO, making the relationship with Israel both unique and, in the opinion of many, uniquely dangerous as an empowered Israel will inevitably work to advance its security perceptions and Middle East “Eretz Israel” ambitions at the expense of genuine concerns that the United States might have intrinsic to its much broader worldwide exposure to global threats. In other words, pandering to Israeli concerns will actually make the United States much weaker and more vulnerable.

Astonishingly, the danger that Israel poses to US national security through its insertion as something like an equal into the planning process has been little remarked in the mainstream US media, possibly due to increased federal and state government pursuit of “antisemites” which includes criminalization of criticism of Israel. And it is certainly once again suggesting the power of the Israel Lobby, its “bought” media and its stable of supporting Jewish billionaires. But there has been considerable concern being expressed across much of the alternative media, some of which has even reached the front pages, suggesting that there is some leakage going on to feed official reservations about 224. The New York Times, which sometimes serves as a go-to leaked resource for the intelligence and defense communities had an interesting article on Israeli spying on the United States sourced to the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) which appeared just after 224 was being debated in Congress.

The Times article is entitled “Pentagon Sees Growing Espionage Threat From Israel” and is summarized as “The Defense Department has increased the counterintelligence threat assessment to its highest level, and Israel is believed to have eavesdropped on American negotiations with Iran.” The story details how “Israel is now at the Pentagon’s highest counterintelligence threat level.” It includes how American officers working with their Israeli counterparts both in the US and overseas have had their phones and other messaging systems tapped through the insertion of surreptitious listening devices by the Israelis. Negotiations to end the Iran War have also been particularly targeted, both through phones being used by the negotiators as well as from the Washington end where the calls and messages are received.

The reality is, of course, that Israel has been a major source of spying and even worse against the United States since the 1950s, always ranking in FBI and Department of Defense assessments as one of the top three foreign espionage offenders, frequently as number one. And Israeli clandestine covert actions and false flag attacks have not hesitated to kill Americans as part of their efforts to cover-up their more disreputable activities. Notably, the Israeli false flag attack on the US Navy’s USS Liberty in international waters on June 8^th 1967 in which 34 crewmen were killed stands out, particularly due to the subsequent cover-up conveniently arranged by Presidents Lyndon B Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.

Israeli spies, which might have included Netanyahu himself when he resided in the US, arranged the illegal removal of enriched uranium from a Zionist-Jewish-owned metallurgical company in Pennsylvania and also obtained the special triggers in California that enabled Tel Aviv to create a nuclear arsenal. When President John F Kennedy sought to stop that development he was assassinated, quite possibly with help from Mossad. And then there was the most damaging spy in the history of the US, Jonathan Pollard, who stole for Israel the most sensitive intelligence ever obtained by a foreign power. He is now running for the Knesset in Israel and is speaking of the next two likely targets for the Israeli army once the Palestinians, Lebanese and Syrians are disposed of, neighbors Egypt and Turkey!

The appearance of the Times article is suspicious and it might have been a shot across the Israeli-Israel Firster bow from the intelligence community coming as it apparently did from what was once called the Department of Defense. But Israel appears to have won this round and will be entering into a new relationship with the United States national security, intelligence and defense systems. Given the utter ruthlessness of Israel and the willingness of its sponsors in Washington to let it get away with mass murder, literally, this is a disaster for the United States and will only produce excruciatingly bad results.

Original article:  www.unz.com