Crooked Bough News Round-up

— Russia Threatens Strike on Finland & Baltic States

 

at 4/17/26 6:06pm

Scott Ritter is a former Major, Intelligence Officer, US Marine, and UN Weapons Inspector. Ritter discusses Russias threat of a retaliatory strike against European targets. The post Russia Threatens Strike on Finland Baltic States appeared first on TheAltWorld.

[Category: interview, Multimedia, WORLD, Baltic, Finland, Russia]

— INTEL Roundtable w/ Johnson / McGovern & Scott Ritter – Weekly Wrap 17-April

 

at 4/17/26 4:17pm

INTEL Roundtable w/ Johnson / McGovern & Scott Ritter Weekly Wrap 17-April The post INTEL Roundtable w/ Johnson / McGovern Scott Ritter Weekly Wrap 17-April appeared first on TheAltWorld.

[Category: interview, Multimedia, WORLD, Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, USA]

— The Number Of Dead Iranian Protesters Keeps Changing Because It’s A Fictional Story

 

at 4/17/26 2:42pm

The most common pro-war talking point about Iran is that they massacred tens of thousands of protesters in January of this year — but what’s funny is that they never cite the same number. Because it’s a completely fictional story, they can just make up any number they want. In online discourse with empire apologists these past few months I’ve been told that the number of dead protesters is thirty thousand, forty thousand, fifty thousand, sixty thousand, seventy thousand, eighty thousand, ninety thousand, and a hundred thousand. They really do seem to just throw out whatever number feels believable in a given moment. I recently saw an exasperated Glenn Greenwald ask an interlocutor on Twitter, “How do you decide when to claim that Iran killed 30,000 protesters, or 45,000, or 70,000? Does it depend on the day of the week or lyrical flow or something else?” Were up to 80k, guys! pic.twitter.com/ltHMygaBTu — Tehran Tadhg (@TadhgHickey) March 17, 2026 Iranian regime change muppet Reza Pahlavi claimed in January that 50,000 protesters had been massacred by the Iranian government that month. Notorious Korean propagandist Yeonmi Park put the number at 40,000. In February, President Trump said it was 32,000. By April he had inflated that number to 45,000, and then later climbed it up to 60,000. Last month I saw The Australian’s Cameron Stewart swelling the number to 80,000. In February there was a viral tweet by a propaganda account called The Persian Jewess asserting that “90,000 protesters have been killed to date,” while right wing influencer Nicholas Lissack said it was actually 100,000. The other day someone commented on a post of mine telling me “Iran killed over 40k protesters standing up for freedom,” and when I dismissed that claim another empire apologist came in and adjusted the number to 30,000. pic.twitter.com/K0kNiJYbKs — Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) April 14, 2026 The reason they can’t settle on a number is because it’s all made up. Nobody denies that thousands of people were killed in the January unrest; the Iranian government itself has stated that 3,117 people were killed in the violent clashes, including large numbers of security forces. Given that the US Treasury Secretary has repeatedly admitted that the US deliberately fomented the unrest in Iran, and given that Trump has admitted to sending weapons into the country with the goal of arming the protesters, and given that Trump’s previous secretary of state has suggested that Mossad was intimately involved in the so-called “peaceful protests”, it was inevitable that people were going to be killed. But the war propagandists couldn’t be content with a few thousand deaths. They needed something more spectacular. Something sensational. So they started circulating thinly-sourced reports by shady individuals claiming the body count was much higher than acknowledged, and then further inflating the numbers in those reports. One of multiple fires at an industrial complex in Iran used to store corpses. According to sources, the Regime is now covering up its crimes against humanity by burning the bodies of murdered protesters. 90,000 protesters have been killed to date. pic.twitter.com/Z5pkdd0Caa — The Persian Jewess (@persianjewess) February 6, 2026 And when they did this it made it clear that they’ve been lying about the whole thing, because anyone can see the numbers going all over the place depending on who happens to be speaking and what kind of mood they happen to be in. They made a classic blunder in fiction writing, as explained in a viral post that was doing the rounds on Tumblr a few months ago: “speculative fiction writers i am going to give you a really urgent piece of advice: don’t say numbers. don’t give your readers any numbers. how heavy is the sword? lots. how old is that city? plenty. how big is the fort? massive. how fast is the spaceship? not very, it’s secondhand. “the minute you say a number your readers can check your math and you cannot do math better than your most autistic critic. i guarantee. don’t let your readers do any math. when did something happen? awhile ago. how many bullets can that gun fire? trick question, it shoots lasers, and it shoots em HARD. “you are lying to people for fun. if you let them do math at you the lie collapses and it’s no fun anymore.” If you’re going to write fiction, it’s important not to disrupt the illusion and snap the reader out of the imaginary world you are creating for them. The narrative about tens of thousands of dead Iranian protesters is fiction, and everyone’s waking up to the lies. Reading by Tim Foley: https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-number-of-dead-iranian-protesters The post The Number Of Dead Iranian Protesters Keeps Changing Because Its A Fictional Story appeared first on TheAltWorld.

[Category: SOCIAL/CULTURAL, Iran, propaganda]

— Trêve de 10 JOURS : THIERRY MEYSSAN dévoile la VICTOIRE de TÉHÉRAN

 

at 4/17/26 2:19am

Le conflit au Moyen-Orient vient de franchir un cap décisif avec lannonce dun cessez-le-feu de dix jours au Liban. Cette trêve, relayée par Donald Trump, intervient après une montée des tensions maritimes sans précédent. Téhéran a menacé de bloquer le détroit de Bab El Mandeb, via ses alliés Houthis au Yémen, en réponse au blocus économique imposé par les États-Unis sur les ports iraniens. Cette manœuvre révèle un sabotage réussi des plans néoconservateurs. En imposant la condition pas de paix à Ormuz sans paix au Liban, lIran a contraint Washington et Tel-Aviv à reculer. Tout indique que cette stratégie a permis de démanteler, temporairement, le projet de partition du Liban souhaité par Benjamin Netanyahou. LAxe de la Résistance semble avoir imposé sa propre temporalité face à la matrice diplomatique occidentale. Nous sommes face à ce que certains observateurs qualifient de victoire stratégique pour Téhéran et le Hezbollah. Cependant, la prudence est de mise face à une oligarchie passée maître dans lart de la tromperie. Ce cessez-le-feu est-il une étape vers la paix ou un simple répit avant une bascule plus violente ? Lara Stam, Marc Gabriel Draghi, Olivier Piacentini et Thierry Meyssan décryptent les enjeux de cette séquence géopolitique et ses implications régionales, en direct dans La Matinale de GPTV. The post Trêve de 10 JOURS : THIERRY MEYSSAN dévoile la VICTOIRE de TÉHÉRAN appeared first on TheAltWorld.

[Category: interview, Multimedia, WORLD, +Français, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, USA]

— US Using Israel to Distract Away from World War 3: Blockade on Iran is an Act of War on China

 

at 4/17/26 12:20am

As predicted a month ago, the US Marine Expeditionary Unit deployed to the Middle East is now imposing a blockade on Iranian oil to China; Those fixated on Israel are distracting away from what is ultimately an act of war on China amid what is quickly shaping into World War 3; The notion that it is inconceivable the US would launch one war to set the stage for war with another nation ignores both US history and the history of empire in general; References: New Atlas US Prepares for Next War of Aggression Against Iran to Further Encircle Russia & China (Feb. 21, 2026): US Prepares for Next War of Aggression Against Iran to Further Encircle Russia China New Atlas Day 17: Why is the US Deploying a Marine Expeditionary Unit Amid War on Iran? (Mar. 16, 2026): Day 17: Why is the US Deploying a Marine Expeditionary Unit Amid War on Iran? BBC How US Marines are being reshaped for China threat (2023): https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-can USNI News Strait of Hormuz Traffic Down As U.S. Blockade Appears to Deter Some Ships (Apr. 14, 2026): https://news.usni.org/2026/04/14/stra The post US Using Israel to Distract Away from World War 3: Blockade on Iran is an Act of War on China appeared first on TheAltWorld.

[Category: interview, Multimedia, WORLD, China, Iran, Israel, USA]

— La guerra en Oriente Medio: interpretaciones religiosas, metafísicas y espirituales

 

at 4/16/26 2:53pm

La agresión de Estados Unidos e Israel contra Irán ha levantado el velo de la dimensión metafísica del conflicto: en él han surgido claramente los contornos de las creencias religiosas, más precisamente, el choque de doctrinas e ideas metafísicas. Y aunque cada parte señala que tiene la razón, tanto en la retórica política como apelando a la historia, los hechos y las acciones indican claramente que Irán está en el bando del bien. Entonces, Israel y Estados Unidos se convierten automáticamente en las fuerzas del mal, aunque es poco probable que estén de acuerdo con esta interpretación. A nivel político, los representantes de todas las tradiciones abrahámicas —el judaísmo, el cristianismo y el islam— se han visto arrastrados al conflicto, y el control de facto de Israel sobre los santuarios de estas religiones —el Muro de las Lamentaciones, el Templo del Señor en Jerusalén, así como la mezquita de Al-Aqsa— confiere al conflicto una especificidad especial. Este año, por primera vez, se prohibió a los musulmanes entrar en la mezquita de Al-Aqsa durante la celebración del mes sagrado del Ramadán, aunque sí se celebró el tradicional servicio de culto cristiano en el templo de Jerusalén, donde tiene lugar la ceremonia del Fuego Sagrado en la víspera de Pascua. Sin embargo, el mundo cristiano (si es que se puede llamar cristianos a las diversas denominaciones protestantes) resultó, de hecho, dividido. Los cristianos ortodoxos están del lado de Irán. Anteriormente, en 2024, en su felicitación al recién elegido presidente de Irán, el patriarca Kirill de la Iglesia Ortodoxa Rusa afirmó que «nuestros pueblos están unidos por el deseo de preservar sus tradiciones históricas, espirituales y culturales, y por el compromiso con principios morales perdurables». También se expresó con gran calidez sobre el nuevo líder supremo de Irán, el ayatolá Mojtaba Jamenei, elegido tras el asesinato de su padre en el conflicto actual: «¡Querido hermano! ¡Te felicito cordialmente por tu elección por parte del Consejo de Expertos iraní para el cargo de líder supremo del país! Este momento histórico ha estado marcado por una dura prueba personal relacionada con la muerte de tu estimado padre y tus seres queridos. Asumes la responsabilidad del Estado y de sus ciudadanos en un momento dramático en el que Irán se enfrenta a numerosos retos existenciales». Sin embargo, en Rusia, las autoridades espirituales perciben claramente este conflicto como un presagio de convulsiones globales que pueden afectar no solo a Oriente Medio y a Estados Unidos. En vísperas del Domingo de Ramos, el Patriarca Kirill señaló que «creeremos y esperaremos que la Protección de la Reina del Cielo, la Más Pura, se extienda sobre Rusia. Y nosotros, los creyentes, al postrarnos ante los santuarios que acabamos de mencionar, pediremos al Señor que extienda Su bendición sobre nuestro país, sobre nuestras autoridades y nuestro ejército, sobre nuestro presidente Vladimir Vladimirovich. Para que Rusia pueda realmente ir de fuerza en fuerza. Para que todo el potencial de nuestro país pueda revelarse verdaderamente hoy en beneficio de nuestro pueblo, en beneficio y seguridad de nuestra Patria y, por supuesto, para la prosperidad de nuestra Iglesia mártir y confesora, que está viviendo quizás el momento más inspirador y maravilloso de su historia reciente». El papel de Rusia en esta declaración del Patriarca tiene claramente un carácter mesiánico. Por último, es importante señalar que en el cristianismo ortodoxo, el Mesías judío se interpreta inequívocamente como el Anticristo, ya que el verdadero Mesías fue Jesucristo, pero los judíos no lo entendieron. Y esto acerca a los pueblos ortodoxos y a los chiítas a nivel doctrinal y teológico. Estados Unidos, cuyo liderazgo desde el siglo XIX ha reivindicado sus raíces cristianas y afirmado la idea de la elección de Dios (Destino Manifiesto) y la construcción de una Ciudad sobre la Colina (de ahí la imposición de sus políticas a otros países), comenzó a apoyar activamente a Israel bajo el mandato de Donald Trump. Tanto en la primera como en la segunda administración de Trump, hubo un gran número de adeptos al llamado sionismo cristiano, una cosmovisión específica según la cual los cristianos deben apoyar a Israel a todos los niveles. Esto es lo que dio lugar a los Acuerdos de Abraham, cuando Washington comenzó a presionar a varios países árabes para que establecieran relaciones diplomáticas con Israel. Esto es exactamente lo que subyace al actual apoyo militar a Israel y a las extrañas declaraciones de Donald Trump y los predicadores que le rodean. Y esto provocó una reacción negativa por parte del jefe del Vaticano: León XIV condenó las palabras del secretario de Guerra de EE. UU., Pete Hegseth, sobre la necesidad de la violencia contra los enemigos en nombre de Cristo, afirmando que «Dios no escucha las oraciones de quienes hacen la guerra». A su vez, esto condujo a los ataques de Trump contra el Papa. Como resultado, este último respondió: «No le tengo miedo a la administración Trump y no tengo miedo de proclamar en voz alta el mensaje del Evangelio —que, creo, es la razón por la que estoy aquí, para lo que sirve la Iglesia. No somos políticos, no nos dedicamos a la política exterior con la misma perspectiva con la que él probablemente la entiende». Esto sugiere que los católicos, al menos los jerarcas, se han situado en el lado opuesto a los radicales protestantes que apoyan a Israel. La justificación de Washington para la operación militar se refiere claramente a un caso similar contra Irak en 2003. Entonces, bajo el falso pretexto de que el régimen de Sadam Husein poseía armas de destrucción masiva, Estados Unidos lanzó una campaña militar sin una resolución de la ONU, lo que condujo a años de ocupación y a millones de víctimas civiles. Al igual que ahora, esto provocó una división entre los aliados de EE. UU.: solo Gran Bretaña apoyó directamente a Washington, mientras que el resto de los socios de la OTAN se opusieron. George W. Bush, en su discurso, dio un giro teológico al señalar que «Dios me dijo que atacara Irak». Es importante señalar que los neoconservadores que respaldaban a George W. Bush apoyaban activamente a Israel y abogaban por un aumento de la ayuda estadounidense a ese país. Ahora Trump declara que «Dios está del lado de Estados Unidos en la guerra contra Irán». Por cierto, tanto Bush como Trump son protestantes (Bush se crió en la Iglesia Episcopal, pero se convirtió al metodismo, y Trump pertenecía a la Iglesia Presbiteriana, aunque más tarde declaró que era «un cristiano al margen de las confesiones»). Y hay bastantes partidarios del sionismo cristiano entre los protestantes. El propio Israel, bajo el liderazgo de Benjamin Netanyahu, está claramente dispuesto a adoptar soluciones radicales, pero desde su propia posición. Se han expresado repetidamente intenciones de destruir la mezquita de Al-Aqsa para construir un Tercer Templo en su lugar. Para este fin, ya se han comprado novillas rojas de EE. UU., necesarias para el sacrificio ritual y su «purificación» con las cenizas del Monte del Templo. Los soldados del ejército israelí llevan parches en los que el territorio especificado abarca partes de los actuales Egipto, Siria, Irak y Líbano. Las purgas en la Franja de Gaza y Cisjordania, así como el bombardeo del Líbano, forman parte de una estrategia global para establecer la hegemonía regional. Traducción al español para Geopolitika.ru por el Dr. Enrique Refoyo Fuente: https://orientalreview.su/ https://www.geopolitika.ru/es/article/la-guerra-en-oriente-medio-interpretaciones-religiosas-metafisicas-y-espirituales The post La guerra en Oriente Medio: interpretaciones religiosas, metafísicas y espirituales appeared first on TheAltWorld.

[Category: SOCIAL/CULTURAL, +Spanish, Iran, Israel, Middle East, USA]

— From Dunks To Drones: The NBA Has an Israel Problem

 

at 4/16/26 2:33pm

As the NBA playoffs tip off this weekend, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and Stephen Curry are under growing scrutiny — not just for their play, but for links to Israeli drone technology and security firms tied to Israel’s military operations that are used to commit war crimes in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran. Many of the National Basketball Association’s biggest stars are quietly allying themselves with the State of Israel, making official visits to the country, meeting IDF troops, and investing in its national security industry. Meanwhile, individuals criticizing Israel and supporting Palestinian liberation have been condemned, threatened, and marginalized. This has caused widespread consternation and push back from the league’s largely progressive fan base. The NBA, in other words, has an Israel problem. Drone King The NBA playoffs start this weekend, with Kevin Durant’s Rockets’ facing LeBron James’ Lakers. Yet both stars have questionable ties to Israel. Durant, for example, is an investor in Skydio, a CIA-funded drone manufacturer that sells surveillance and weaponry exclusively to governments. Within hours of the October 7, 2023, attack, the company was sending its drones to Israel, where they play an important part in the hi-tech genocide in Gaza. The buzz of Skydio X10 and X10D drones is a near constant sound over Gaza. The drones can be equipped with speakers, spotlights, cameras, or offensive weaponry such as grenades. Israel has used similar drones to play sounds of screaming women and crying babies to lure people to a scene, only to be targeted for assassination. The U.S. government paid for at least 1000 Skydio drones to be sent to Ukraine to be used in its battle against Russia. Another major funder of the company is In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s investments department. Durant – known for spending a great deal of his time online – is well aware of his investment, and what these drones are being used for, having directly responded to people bringing the issue up. But he has fastidiously refused to address the criticisms. As one NBA fan wrote, “Kevin Durant is on his phone for 23 hours a day to ratio people with 15 followers on Twitter, but bring up his ties with Israel, and now he’s nowhere to be found.” LeBron Loves Israel Durant’s opponent this weekend, LeBron James, presents himself as an activist athlete. An outspoken supporter of racial justice movements, he has used his platform to support liberal causes, such as voter registration and to oppose police killings. Idolizing Muhammad Ali, he also very publicly allowed himself to be photographed at a press conference reading the autobiography of Malcolm X (although he was barely able to answer even basic questions about its content). Surprisingly, then, the four-time NBA Most Valuable Player has expressed his strong support for Israel, and stayed silent on its assault on its neighbors. In the wake of October 7, James was one of many celebrities to rush out statements of solidarity with Israel and condemnation of Hamas. “The devastation in Israel is tragic and unacceptable. The murder and violence against innocent people by Hamas is terrorism,” he wrote, sending his “deepest condolences to Israel and the Jewish community,” while suggesting Hamas were a “hate” movement. In the two-and-a-half years of slaughter that has followed it, however, the word “Palestine” has not passed LeBron’s lips, as the star has stayed silent in the face of the unfolding human rights catastrophe. In fact, this February, he went further, seemingly endorsing Israel and its actions, and expressing a desire to visit the country that has bombed seven neighboring countries in the past 12 months. “I hope I inspire people over there [Israel] to be better in life. Hopefully someday I can make it over there. I’ve heard nothing but great things,” he said. Considering that Israel has been the number one news story for the past two-and-a-half years, this could be interpreted as public support for Israeli policy. It is also in direct contrast to the positions taken by LeBron’s idols. Muhammad Ali went to prison rather than participate in the slaughter in Southeast Asia, visited Palestinian refugee camps, and attended pro-Palestine demonstrations until he was physically unable to do so. Malcolm X, meanwhile, went to Gaza in 1964, and strongly supported the Palestinian cause, linking Israeli settler colonial violence to white supremacism in the United States, and drawing parallels between the Palestinian and Black liberation movements. Steph Curry: Making Buckets From the Occupation Perhaps the only current player that can match LeBron’s star power is Stephen Curry. The 12-time All Star and 2023 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion award winner presents himself as a humble activist fighting for good. Like LeBron, he is a vocal supporter of the Democratic Party, and has lent his weight to a number of racial and social justice causes. But also like LeBron, Curry’s connections to Israel have come under public scrutiny. The Golden State Warriors guard has plunged tens of millions of dollars into the country’s tech industry, investing in security and defense firms founded and staffed by Israeli spies and military commanders. One of these is security firm, Zafran, who, in 2024, Curry bankrolled to the tune of $30 million. Zafran is led by Sanaz Yashar, who spent fifteen years at IDF intelligence outfit, Unit 8200, rising to become a commander, before leaving at starting Zafran. Unit 8200 is the Israeli military’s most elite and most controversial department. The unit is responsible for cyberwarfare and intelligence attacks, and has been behind some of Israel’s most controversial actions, including producing A.I.-generated kill lists of Gazans, and carrying out the 2024 Lebanon pager attack. The group is widely identified by both domestic and international human rights agencies as a key perpetrator of the genocide in Gaza, while the pager incident was condemned as a major act of international terrorism, even by former CIA Director, Leon Panetta. Unit 8200 and its graduates are responsible for the production and dissemination of huge quantities of spyware, including the Pegasus software that was used to spy on tens of thousands of activists, politicians, and journalists around the world. Zafran’s two other co-founders, Snir Havdala and Ben Seri, also come from Israeli military intelligence backgrounds. Havdala spent eight years at Unit 8200, becoming the group’s head of security research, while Seri served in Unit 81, an organization that focuses primarily on building offensive cyberweapons to be used against Israel’s enemies. All three were awarded official prizes for their military contributions. Now, they work (nominally) in the private sector, although the line between Israel’s Silicon Valley and its state intelligence is notoriously blurry. Another Israeli cybersecurity firm Curry has recycled his NBA dollars into is Upwind, a group founded by Israeli soldiers, Amiram Shachar, Lavi Ferdman, and Liran Polak, who met while serving in the elite Mamram Unit. Famous for selecting only the top 1% of applicants, Mamram is tasked with creating the technological backbone for the entire country’s military, including drones, missile systems, and the Iron Dome. According to public data from employment database LinkedIn, the majority of employees at both Zafran and Upwind are former Israeli intelligence officers. Curry’s Israeli investments appeared to have been lucrative ones, as the companies continue to grow. Thus, while the American sharpshooter is making buckets from his partnership with Israel, he remains silent on Gaza. Unlike Durant, though, Curry’s relationship with Israel appears deeper than purely contractual. He has expressed his interest in Israeli culture, has told the press that he is learning Hebrew, and even has Hebrew tattoos on both his wrists. Draymond Green: Playing Defense for Israel Curry’s Golden State Warriors teammate, Draymond Green, however, took his relationship with Israel to a higher level. In 2018, the four-time all-star and NBA Defensive Player of the Year went on a high-profile official trip to Israel, organized by the Friends of the IDF, an American group that purchases equipment for Israeli soldiers. During his four-day visit, Green smiled as he put on an IDF uniform and shot weapons at a gun range. He also visited Israeli border police and presented their counter-terrorism commander with his own Warriors jersey. He even attended a meeting with Israeli president, Reuven Rivlin – a sign of how important a propaganda coup Israel considered luring the NBA star to their country. Israel, at the time, was in desperate need of a public relations victory. Green chose to visit the country at the height of the Great March of Return, a series of non-violent Palestinian protests aimed at drawing the world’s attention to the grave injustices being meted out by the Israeli occupation. In response, IDF and Israeli police units – the very organizations Green met with – mowed down protestors, intentionally killing hundreds and disabling thousands. Green was well aware of the importance of his visit and that it would be understood as an endorsement of a political project. Just weeks previously, he, Curry, and their NBA champion Warriors team rejected an invitation to the White House to meet President Donald Trump, realizing that to do so would carry political connotations. His decision to visit Israel at the (then) height of their atrocities was widely condemned online. “Flashing a toothy grin with a sniper rifle in Israel on a trip sponsored by Friends of the IDF is so horribly offensive. They’ve recently slaughtered 100s of unarmed Palestinians with those rifles,” activist Shaun King reacted. Zionism 2.0 A key figure in the NBA’s partnership with Israel is Durant, Curry, and Green’s former Warriors teammate, Omri Casspi. A disciple of President Shimon Peres, the Israeli forward has been a passionate supporter of his country’s expansionist project, and sees basketball as a way of improving Israel’s poor reputation among the Black American community. “What I wanted to accomplish was to create a better awareness by bringing big celebrities with a lot of following on social media, creating goodwill ambassadors for Israel,” he said, adding: “Unfortunately, Israel gets a bad rep sometimes in the media. These guys are from places like Baltimore and Alabama. And there are kids down there who follow them really closely, and they see that they’ve been to Israel, and that creates good energy.” Casspi has convinced several NBA players to join him on high-profile visits to Israel, all paid for by Israeli-American billionaire and Republican mega donor Miriam Adelson, who now owns the Dallas Mavericks NBA franchise. In 2015, Adelson paid for a private jet to take Casspi and fellow players, DeMarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay, Caron Butler, Tyreke Evans, and Chandler Parsons to Israel. While there, the group visited the Western Wall and meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in what even The Jewish Journal called an “anti-BDS [Boycott Divestment and Sanctions] PR” trip. The next year, Casspi was joined by Rudy Gay, Chris Copeland, Donald Sloan, Shawn Marion and Amar’e Stoudemire, latter of whom would later move to Israel and convert to Judaism. Jimmy Butler, meanwhile, received an award for his pro-Israel activism from Israeli Consul General to the Northwestern United States, Ambassador Marco Sermoneta. Since October 2023, the six-time all-star has vocally campaigned for the release of Israeli prisoners from Hamas custody, Other NBA players known to have visited Israel include Victor Oladipo, Lamarcus Aldridge, and Enes Kanter Freedom. For Casspi and Israel, however, building goodwill for Israel among the basketball community is not enough. After more than two years of constant fighting, the Israeli economy is in tatters, and desperately needs foreign investment. To that end, the former pro founded Swish Ventures, a project designed to funnel American money into the Israel tech sector. Casspi hopes that Curry’s massive investments are just the start. As he told The Times of Israel in 2024: “We are launching Swish at a time when the importance of the high-tech sector to Israel is maturing… In this not easy climate during war and with high interest rates, we see this period as Zionism 2.0, a time and age of building generational companies from Israel, and we want to take advantage of that and help them build a great industry.” “The high-tech infrastructure allows us to serve national interests and is more important than ever,” he added. As such, then, the efforts to improve connections between the NBA and Israel are far from natural, but are intentional, coordinated, and part of a wider strategy to further the Zionist project. Crushing Pro-Palestine Sympathy While the practice of associating the NBA’s brand with an Apartheid state has received serious pushback from fans, the league has quietly endorsed it. Indeed, NBA commissioner Adam Silver participated in an official visit to Israel as part of its “Basketball Without Borders” program, bringing NBA legends David Robinson and Wayne Embry with him. While in Israel, Robinson and Embry met with both Rivlin and Netanyahu. Silver has also zealously quashed expressions of support for Palestine, no matter how small. Last year, NBA legend Dwight Howard revealed how a 2014 social media post almost lost him his career. “So I tweet ‘Free Palestine’. Less than 10 minutes after I tweet that, I get a call from the commissioner of the NBA [Silver], agents, people working with my foundation,” he said, all with the coordinated message: “You got to erase this tweet, you got to take this down.” Howard revealed that it had a chilling effect on his speech, realizing that “If I say too much, if I say something, I may not get a job no more.” At the time of his post, Howard was an eight-time all star and three-time Defensive Player of the Year, suggesting that, on the subject of Israel/Palestine, even marquee names feel immense top-down pressure to conform. In 2022, the league went one step further with star player Kyrie Irving. After he posted a link to the antisemitic conspiracy documentary, “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America,” to his Twitter account, Irving was immediately suspended, and forced to apologize. He was even made to give half a million dollars to the Anti-Defamation League, a pro-Israel pressure group that spied on Dr. Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement and has sought to undermine the current Movement for Black Lives – an organization Irving supports. This pressure to conform extends, it seems, even to high-profile fans of the sport. At this year’s NBA All Star Game, director Spike Lee wore a keffiyeh-patterned top and a bag featuring a Palestinian flag motif. Shortly afterward, he issued a bizarre public apology for his clothing choice, asking for forgiveness for his “gesture of hostility to the Jewish community” and his “support of violence.” Targeting Black Americans with Propaganda The African-American community is vastly more supportive of Palestine than the rest of the population. Like Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali, Black Americans are far more likely to see parallels between their own struggles and those of the Palestinians. A 2023 New York Times Siena College poll found that they were the only group more likely to sympathize with Palestine (34%) than Israel (28%) – far more than their white counterparts, who overwhelmingly backed Israel (56% to 17%). Israel and its supporters have long identified the Black community as a potential problem. To that end, they have been targeting them for at least a decade with special public relations efforts. Emails released by WikiLeaks show that entertainment moguls liaising with the IDF recruited hip hop mega producer Russell Simmons to promote Israel’s image in Black America. When asked what could be done, the founder of Def Jam Records and the brother of Joseph “Rev.Run” Simmons, one third of Run DMC, responded: “Simple messaging from non Jews specifically from Muslims promoting peace and Israel’s right to exist…We have resources and the desire to win rather than lose the hearts of young Muslims and Jews.” What these resources were, he explained: “We have hundreds of collaboration programs between Imams Rabbis and their congregations We have many respected imams who would join former chief rabbi metzker (spelling) rabbi Schneier and non Jews in promoting the Saudi peace plan.” “Through this campaign we will be helping Israel,” he concluded. For a deep dive into this story, read the MintPress News investigation, “The Israel Files: WikiLeaks Docs Show Top Hollywood Producers Working with Israel to Defend its War Crimes.” Israel has also tried to more directly recruit Steph Curry into its P.R. drive. A recently-created firm called Show Faith by Works, registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act as affiliated with the Israeli government, identified the basketball star as a potential “Christian Celebrity Spokesperson” who could “deliver pro-Israel messaging” into religious communities across the country. There is no evidence, however, that Curry accepted their offer. Imperial Boomerang While putting money into drones or Israeli technology may seem a rather abstract, faraway investment for American NBA stars, they are increasingly coming to negatively affect Black communities across the United States. Skydio has signed a number of lucrative contracts with domestic law enforcement agencies, including the DEA and ICE, the latter of which has bought millions of dollars worth of drones ICE has surveiled, harassed, and broken up communities of color from coast to coast, and is using cutting edge technology to suppress protest movements organizing against it. Last week, the agency admitted that it was also using powerful Israeli spyware developed by former Unit 8200 agents to hack into phones across America. With help from groups such as the ADL, ICE has a long history of working with the Israeli police and military, studying the tactics they use to oppress Palestinians. Now, we are increasingly seeing those tactics being used to discipline and control domestic dissent. Therefore, while NBA stars like Durant and Curry can make a killing investing in questionable tech companies, the technology they produce could increasingly be used to suppress Americans protesting against the Israeli-inspired police state being rapidly constructed before our eyes Related Articles: When It Comes to Defending Rights, LeBron Takes Michael Jordan to School From Dunks To Drones: The NBA Has an Israel Problem The post From Dunks To Drones: The NBA Has an Israel Problem appeared first on TheAltWorld.

[Category: SOCIAL/CULTURAL, celebrity, drone, Israel, NBA]

— Who REALLY Achieved a Ceasefire in Lebanon? US Triumph or Resistance Masterstroke? | Ep, 205

 

at 4/16/26 12:55pm

Who REALLY Achieved a Ceasefire in Lebanon? US Triumph or Resistance Masterstroke? | Ep, 205 The post Who REALLY Achieved a Ceasefire in Lebanon? US Triumph or Resistance Masterstroke? | Ep, 205 appeared first on TheAltWorld.

[Category: interview, Multimedia, WORLD, Israel, Lebanon, USA]

— Has the US-Israeli dual assault against Iran ceased?

 

at 4/16/26 4:22am

Who conceded and surrendered: Iran or the United States? How will Netanyahu, the architect of this conflict, react? We find it difficult to take U.S. President Donald Trump’s statements seriously and trust their content, not because they are numerous and spread across multiple television and radio stations, as well as social media platforms, but because they are contradictory and lacking credibility. Trump appears to have forgotten that he is the president of a big country and is now acting like a journalist or media analyst, making statements without understanding his true identity. Three days ago, President Trump said he would impose a tight military blockade on all Iranian ports starting from the day before yesterday, “Monday”, and would prevent any ship from entering the Strait of Hormuz. He also proposed punishing ships that pay fees to Iran in accordance with its latest directives. However, Iran acknowledged today that two of its oil tankers had entered the strait and docked at one of its ports. The latest development today is the confirmation by host Maria Bartiromo, who interviewed the American president for his preferred right-wing channel “Fox,” that “the war with Iran is over, and there is intensive activity taking place today (Wednesday) and tomorrow Thursday focused on resuming negotiations, and the elements for reaching an agreement are fully available, but matters have not been completely settled.” We’ve heard such statements, including from President Trump himself, numerous times without seeing any action taken, just as we’ve heard threats to uproot Iranian civilisation from its roots, open the gates of hell on Tehran, and completely change the current regime after assassinating all of its leaders. We did not see the gates of hell or its windows, but we did see the Iranian regime at the peak of its strength and resilience, withdrawing from the last round of negotiations in Islamabad, Pakistan, which lasted no more than 21 hours, without making any concessions on the three issues on the table: stopping uranium enrichment; handing over approximately 460 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent or more, stored in an unknown underground location, and opening When President Trump claims that the war against Iran is over, he indicates that an agreement was struck in the last two days, which could only have been done if one or both parties made considerable concessions. To our knowledge, this has never happened, and both parties, particularly the Iranian side, remain solid in their beliefs. If Trump’s statements about the complete cessation of the war are accurate, as he told the “Fox Business” host, it means that he is the one who conceded his demands that thwarted more than two years of negotiations in Vienna, Muscat, and Geneva, which the Iranian side rejected. These demands included the complete and immediate cessation of enrichment and the handover of all quantities of highly enriched uranium in exchange for the immediate lifting of the blockade on Iran and the unfreezing of its billions in American banks. We do not rule out this hypothesis, given the series of failures that the American government has experienced on both the diplomatic and military fronts since it, along with its Israeli ally, launched an aggression against Iran on February 28 of last year, which failed to achieve any of its goals, the most prominent of which were the final prevention of Iran developing nuclear weapons and regime change. According to news leaks, the Trump administration has conceded its demands to completely prevent Iranian enrichment, is no longer demanding the handover of 460 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, and is willing to negotiate the enrichment percentage rather than its complete prevention. These potential American concessions follow military defeats on the ground, Iranian forces’ resilience in combat fields, and the downing of more than 20 highly advanced American aircraft, including fighter jets such as the stealth bomber “F-35” or “F-15” and the world’s most advanced AWACS. And more importantly, the Iranian people rallied behind their leadership, and after 40 days, the war turned into a multi-front regional attritional war, resulting so far in the destruction of all American military bases in the Gulf and the Middle East, rendering them almost out of service. Furthermore, Iranian missiles and drones penetrated deep into Israeli territory in Greater Tel Aviv, Haifa, Acre, Dimona, and Safed, devastating entire neighbourhoods in the centres of the cities. So, when President Trump begs his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping not to transfer modern weaponry to Iran, the writing is on the wall: America’s defeat is inevitable, and the Chinese-Russian-Iranian axis has won this war. We should expect more surprises in the coming days and weeks that will confirm this truth. Has the US-Israeli dual assault against Iran ceased? The post Has the US-Israeli dual assault against Iran ceased? appeared first on TheAltWorld.

[Category: WORLD, Iran, Israel, Netanyahu, USA]

— EXTRA: US “Rescue” Mission in Iran May Have Been Failed Ground Raid, 2023 Training Mission Suggests

 

at 4/16/26 1:36am

A recent supposed “search and rescue” mission in Iran involving a downed F-15 and A-10 warplane required at least 2 C-130 transport airplanes deployed to an abandoned airfield where MH-6 helicopters were deployed; The C-130s were reported “stuck” and subsequently destroyed along with the 4 MH-6 helicopters they brought in; In 2023 the exact same mission was being practiced in the middle of Wyoming along a highway using similar equipment including C-130s, MH-6s, and A-10 warplanes; This raises the possibility the mission in Iran just like the training mission in Wyoming was in fact part of an ongoing ground operation to develop combat power inside Iran rather than for search and rescue and that the mission was compromised and ended as a costly search, rescue, and evacuation mission; The post EXTRA: US Rescue Mission in Iran May Have Been Failed Ground Raid, 2023 Training Mission Suggests appeared first on TheAltWorld.

[Category: Multimedia, WORLD, Hormuz, Iran, USA, war]

— They Always Tell You Why The Empire Uses Violence, But Never Why Its Enemies Do

 

at 4/15/26 7:51pm

One common feature of western empire propaganda is that we are always given reasons for the empire’s violence, while the violence of those who resist the empire tends to be framed as happening for no reason at all. We’ve all been fed reasons for the US-Israeli war on Iran, and we all know what those reasons are. Even less-informed members of the western public will have heard something about the Iranians being a nuclear threat, having a tyrannical government, and maybe something about sponsoring terrorist groups. But the so-called “peaceful protesters” who were killed in an uprising fomented and facilitated by the United States? They were killed for no reason, simply because the Iranian government is evil and hates dissent. All the Iranian police officers who died in the uprising perished for no reason, perhaps of natural causes. It is only by pure coincidence that this happened at the exact same time the US empire was making the decision to try to topple the Iranian government. We’ve all been given the official reasons why Israel has spent years blanketing the Gaza Strip with military explosives: Israel was attacked by Hamas on October 7 2023, so it needs to get rid of Hamas for its own security. But why did the Hamas attack happen? It happened for no reason. If you look to the propagandists in the western press for answers, October 7 happened solely because Hamas are evil and wanted to kill Jews for belonging to the wrong religion. Absolutely no mention of Israel’s savage treatment of Palestinians for generations, or the dreadful living conditions imposed upon the giant concentration camp that Gaza had become. We’ve been told why the western empire is pouring weapons into Ukraine: Ukraine was invaded by Russia. The empire wants to protect the freedom and democracy of the Ukrainian people, and to deter future expansionism by Vladimir Putin. Why did Russia invade Ukraine? No reason. Putin’s just evil and hates freedom, that’s all. Sure, countless western experts and analysts had been warning for years that NATO aggressions were going to lead to a war on Russia’s border, but they were just rambling lunatics whose forecasts of war were proven correct by pure coincidence. Our entire understanding of history is framed in this way. Fidel Castro killed people in Cuba. Why did he kill them? No reason; he was just a mean jerk. All the violence of the socialist revolutionaries around the world overthrowing the abusive governments which preceded them is framed as causeless genocidal carnage inflicted by murderous tyrants who simply loved killing people. The desperation caused by the capitalist exploitation that had been imposed upon those populations is completely redacted from our history books. A mature understanding of our world begins with a curiosity about why the violence is happening. Violence is not always justified, but there is always a reason why it happens. Western pundits, politicians and newscasters will very seldom tell you what those reasons are unless it advances the interests of the western empire. So if you want to have a truth-based understanding of what’s really going on in our world, you need to actively seek out the answers for yourself Reading by Tim Foley: https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/they-always-tell-you-why-the-empire The post They Always Tell You Why The Empire Uses Violence, But Never Why Its Enemies Do appeared first on TheAltWorld.

[Category: SOCIAL/CULTURAL, Empire, propaganda]

— El Imperio de la Piratería bloquea a Irán y China

 

at 4/15/26 1:34pm

Los iraníes están ansiosos por luchar, en caso de que el alto el fuego se rompa. Saluden todos el todopoderoso regreso de «Piratas del Caribe», ahora actualizado a «Piratas del Golfo Pérsico». El espectacular colapso de los dictados de Islamabad —Bárbaria vino a dictar, nunca a negociar— ha ido seguido de una operación psicológica de coacción a lo grande: ¡Jesús! (literalmente, tal y como lo publicó en Truth Social) amenazando a todos y cada uno de los barcos que ahora pagan el peaje del estrecho de Ormuz. Como ya sabe cada grano de arena desde el Gobi hasta el Sáhara, todo esto tiene que ver con China. Así que hay que plantear la pregunta de nuevo. El CENTCOM se ha fusionado ahora con el INDOPACOM, una nueva hidra pirata. ¿Tendrá el INDOPACOM las agallas para hostigar a un superpetrolero chino que haya atravesado el estrecho de Ormuz tras pagar el peaje en yuanes? En su característico modo de supremacía delirante, el secretario del Tesoro de EE. UU., Bessent, afirmó que China ya no podrá obtener petróleo de Irán. Esta artimaña del «Babuino de Barbaria» se traduce, de hecho, en una guerra económica no solo contra China, sino contra una serie de naciones, en su mayoría asiáticas, que perturba los flujos energéticos globales, el comercio y el transporte marítimo de todo tipo de mercancías desde Occidente hacia Oriente y desde Oriente hacia Occidente. Un bloqueo petrolero dirigido no solo contra China, sino también contra gran parte del mundo multipolar. Antes del inicio del bloqueo estadounidense, solo los buques de cinco naciones podían transitar por el estrecho de Ormuz: China, Rusia, India, Irak y Pakistán. Una vez más: ¿se atreverá el INDOPACOM a confiscar o hundir buques de cuatro potencias nucleares? Corea del Sur fue un paso más allá y envió un enviado especial para negociar directamente con Teherán con el fin de garantizar el paso seguro por Ormuz y comprar más petróleo y gas a precios más bajos. En estos momentos, al menos 26 petroleros surcoreanos permanecen varados. Ahora compare a Bessent con el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores ruso, Serguéi Lavrov, en Pekín, tras hablar con el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores chino, Wang Yi, y ser recibido en persona por el presidente Xi: «Rusia puede, sin lugar a dudas, compensar el déficit de recursos que se ha producido». Aproximadamente el 13 % de las importaciones de petróleo de China proceden de Irán, lo que supone unos 1,38 millones de barriles al día. Paralelamente, «Power of Siberia-1» —que opera a plena capacidad— suministra 38 000 millones de metros cúbicos de gas al año, y el oleoducto ESPO está alcanzando máximos históricos. «Power of Siberia-2» podría no entrar en funcionamiento hasta el año que viene. Rusia ya suministra hasta el 20 % del petróleo de China. «Compensar», en términos de Lavrov, significa llevar la capacidad excedentaria al límite. Pero eso es factible. Irán, por su parte, puede contar con un oleoducto alternativo y la terminal petrolera de Jask, con una capacidad de 1 millón de barriles al día, que evita por completo el estrecho de Ormuz. Hasta ahora, 8 petroleros chinos han transitado por Ormuz desde que se anunció el bloqueo. Además, China cuenta con hasta 1.300 millones de barriles en sus reservas, suficientes para amortiguar algunas pérdidas procedentes de Irán durante meses. Y China seguirá —en teoría— recibiendo petróleo de petroleros que partan de otros puertos del Golfo Pérsico no iraníes (aunque seguirá teniendo que pagar el peaje). La gran pregunta es cuánto tiempo Irán —y China, por lo demás— tolerarán que la flota fantasma sea interceptada por el INDOPACOM sin una respuesta balística. A la espera del bloqueo del Triángulo de Al-Aqsa Un bloqueo de todos los puertos de Irán —y no del estrecho de Ormuz en sí— podría encontrar pronto su rival: el inminente bloqueo del Triángulo de Al Aqsa (Bab al-Mandab, el puerto de Yanbu en Arabia Saudí, Suez, en conexión con Ormuz), tal y como lo ha calificado Ansarallah de Yemen. Los hutíes solo están esperando el momento estratégico por excelencia para sumarse a la conversación. Esto conducirá inevitablemente a que el petróleo supere los 200 dólares por barril —y subiendo. Traducción: una crisis de suministro irremediable que afectará a todo el sistema. La cobarde administración del Babuino de Barbaria ciertamente no lo pensó bien, ya que está obsesionada con privar a China de petróleo y dólares estadounidenses mientras destruye, en teoría, los nodos clave de las Nuevas Rutas de la Seda/BRI.En lo que todos los demás están prestando atención es en cómo el bloqueo impuesto por el INDOPACOM devastará a decenas de naciones fuera de China. Lo cual nos lleva a un cálculo trivial pero bastante factible —en sintonía con chiflados como Bessent—: privemos a todos de petróleo y dólares estadounidenses para que estén desesperados por vender sus bonos del Tesoro de EE. UU. de vuelta a EE. UU. muy por debajo de su valor nominal, siempre y cuando puedan obtener petróleo y/o dólares estadounidenses a cambio.Esto es Grifter Central: los estadounidenses retiran su deuda de la circulación —con un enorme descuento— y simplemente borran esos gigantescos pagos de intereses sobre la deuda que son incapaces de pagar. No hay garantía de que la administración del Babuino de Barbaria consiga lo que quiere. Teherán no depende de las rutas marítimas. Tras décadas de sanciones, han desarrollado una serie de corredores terrestres alternativos, canales de trueque y mecanismos de intercambio, por ejemplo a través de Turkmenistán. China, una vez más, ya no es prisionera del «dilema de Malaca» —entre Malasia y Sumatra, en Indonesia— porque ha diversificado meticulosamente sus fuentes, empezando por los gasoductos chino-rusos.Además, el gasoducto China-Myanmar elude por completo Malaca. El largo gasoducto China-Asia Central, que atraviesa Turkmenistán, Uzbekistán y Kazajistán —financiado por China y que elude la talasocracia estadounidense—, está en funcionamiento desde principios de la década de 2010. Luego está el puerto de aguas profundas de Gwadar, en el mar Arábigo, nodo clave del Corredor Económico China-Pakistán (CPEC) y pilar de la Iniciativa de la Franja y la Ruta (BRI). Gwadar se encuentra a solo 80 km al este del puerto de Chabahar, en Sistán y Baluchistán (Irán): por lo tanto, lejos del golfo Pérsico. Esto se traduce en una ruta terrestre desde el mar Arábigo hasta Xinjiang.China no pasará hambre si se ve privada del petróleo iraní. China lidera prácticamente todos y cada uno de los sectores de producción de energía y electricidad. Cuenta con la capacidad industrial —hablamos de capitalismo productivo—, las materias primas, las cadenas de suministro y suficiente mano de obra cualificada para producir la tecnología y la infraestructura necesarias para todos los sistemas energéticos relevantes: paneles solares, turbinas, baterías, líneas de transmisión, todo lo relacionado con la energía solar, eólica, hidroeléctrica y nuclear de última generación. Eso es exactamente lo que vi al recorrer Xinjiang de un extremo a otro el año pasado mientras rodaba un documental. Obviamente, los secuaces miopes de Babuino of Barbaria no pueden entender de ninguna manera cómo la estrategia de China de dominio total en vehículos eléctricos, baterías solares y exportación de electricidad está protegiendo al Imperio Medio de crisis artificiales del petróleo y el gas, como el bloqueo.Tal y como están las cosas, la Armada Invencible permanece en los confines del golfo de Omán, fuera del alcance de muchos —pero no todos— misiles y drones iraníes, aunque sin duda puede ser blanco de misiles balísticos de largo alcance e hipersónicos. Los estadounidenses seguirán utilizando su ISR [Inteligencia, Vigilancia, Reconocimiento] para rastrear buques; a continuación, pequeñas embarcaciones y helicópteros llevarán a cabo el procedimiento de «interdicción».Hasta ahora, no ha pasado nada. Bueno, en realidad ha pasado algo importante: un superpetrolero no iraní, sujeto a sanciones y capaz de transportar 2 millones de barriles de petróleo, navegó hacia Irán a través del estrecho de Ormuz con el AIS activado para que todos los rastreadores lo vieran. El INDOPACOM no se atrevió a tocarlo. La guinda de este pastel letal.Este martes y miércoles, el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores ruso, Serguéi Lavrov, se encuentra de visita oficial en China, en conversaciones con el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores chino, Wang Yi. La asociación estratégica entre Rusia y China, más vigente que nunca. El nuevo triángulo Primakov —RIC (Rusia-Irán-China)— en pleno funcionamiento. ¿Bloqueo? ¿Qué bloqueo? El Imperio de la Piratería bloquea a Irán y China Traducción:  Geopolítica rugiente The post El Imperio de la Piratería bloquea a Irán y China appeared first on TheAltWorld.

[Category: WORLD, +Spanish, China, Iran, USA]

— Empire of Piracy blockades Iran and China

 

at 4/15/26 1:18pm

Iranians are itching to fight – in case the ceasefire collapses. All hail the almighty return of Pirates of the Caribbean, now upgraded to Pirates of the Persian Gulf. The spectacular collapse of the Islamabad diktats – Barbaria came to dictate, never to negotiate – has been followed by a coercion psy ops on steroids: Jesus! (literally, as he posted it on Truth Social) threatening every single ship now paying the Strait of Hormuz toll booth. As every grain of sand from the Gobi to the Sahara already knows, this is all about China. So the question needs to be posed again. CENTCOM has now merged into INDOPACOM, a new pyrate hydra. Will INDOPACOM have the balls to harass a Chinese supertanker which sailed through the Strait of Hormuz after paying the toolbooth in yuan? In his trademark delusional supremacy mode, US Treasury Secretary Bessent said that China will no longer be able to get oil from Iran. This Baboon of Barbaria gimmick in fact translates as economic warfare against not only China but an array of mostly Asian nations, disturbing global energy flows, trade, and major shipping transporting all manner of goods from the West down to the East and from East to West. An oil blockade targeting not only China but also a great deal of the multipolar world. Before the start of the American blockade, ships from only five nations could transit through the Strait of Hormuz: China, Russia, India, Iraq and Pakistan. Once again: will INDOPACOM dare to seize or sink ships from four nuclear powers? South Korea went a step ahead and sent a special envoy for direct negotiations with Tehran to guarantee safe passage through Hormuz and buy more cheaper oil and gas. As it stands, at least 26 South Korean tankers remain stranded. Now compare Bessent with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in Beijing, after talking to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and being received in person by President Xi: “Russia can, without a doubt, compensate for the shortfall in resources that has arisen.” Roughly 13% of China’s oil imports come from Iran – approximately 1.38 million barrels a day. In parallel, Power of Siberia-1 – operating at full capacity – delivers 38 billion cubic meters of gas a year of gas, and the ESPO oil pipeline is hitting record highs. Power of Siberia-2 may only become operational next year. Russia already supplies as much as 20% of China’s oil. “Compensate”, in Lavrov’s terms, means pushing spare capacity to the limit. But that’s doable. Iran for its part can count on an alternative pipeline and the Jask oil terminal, with capacity for 1 million barrels a day, which completely bypasses the Strait of Hormuz. So far, 8 Chinese tankers transited via Hormuz since the blockade was announced. Moreover, China has as many as 1.3 billion barrels in inventories, enough to cushion some losses from Iran for months. And China will continue – in theory – to receive oil from tankers departing from other non-Iranian Persian Gulf ports (they will still need to pay the toll booth). The big question is how long Iran – and China, for that matter – will tolerate the shadow fleet being interdicted by INDOPACOM without a ballistic response. Waiting for the Al Aqsa Triangle Blockade A blockade of all Iran’s ports – and not of the Strait of Hormuz per se – may soon meet its match: the incoming Al Aqsa Triangle Blockade (Bab-al-Mandeb, Yanbu port in Saudi Arabia, Suez, in connection with Hormuz), as qualified by Yemen’s Ansarallah. The Houthis are just waiting for the uber-strategic moment to join the chat. That will inevitably lead to oil reaching over $200 a barrel – and counting. Translation: an irretrievable, system-wide supply shock. The cowardly Baboon of Barbaria administration certainly did not think this through – as it’s obsessed with starving China of oil and US dollars while destroying, in theory, key nodes of the New Silk Roads/BRI. What everyone else is paying attention to is how the INDOPACOM-enforced blockade will devastate scores of nations outside of China. Which brings us to a pedestrian but quite feasible calculation – in tune with mutts such as Bessent: let’s starve everyone of oil and US dollars so they will be desperate to sell their US Treasury bonds back to the US way below face value, as long as they can get oil and/or US dollars in return. This is Grifter Central: the Americans take their debt out of circulation – at a huge discount – and simply erase those humongous interest payments on the debt which they are unable to pay. There’s no guarantee the Baboon of Barbaria administration will get what it wants. Tehran does not depend on maritime routes. After decades of sanctions, they developed an array of alternative land corridors, barter trade channels, and swapping mechanisms, for instance via Turkmenistan. China, once again, is not a prisoner anymore of the Malacca Dilemma – between Malaysia and Sumatra in Indonesia – because they have meticulously diversified their sources, starting with the Sino-Russian pipelines. Moroever, the China-Myanmar pipeline totally bypasses Malacca. The long China-Central Asia gas pipeline spanning Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan – paid by China and bypassing American thalassocracy – has been in effect since the early 2010s. Then there’s Gwadar deep-sea port in the Arabian Sea, the key node of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and a stalwart of BRI. Gwadar is only 80 km east of the port of Chabahar in Sistan-Balochistan in Iran: hence far away from the Persian Gulf. That translates into an overland route from the Arabian Sea to Xinjiang. China will not starve if deprived of Iranian oil. China leads in nearly every single energy and power production sector. They have the industrial capacity – talk about productive capitalism – the raw materials, the supply chains, and enough skilled labor to produce the technology and infrastructure necessary for every relevant energy system: solar panels, turbines, batteries, transmission lines, everything in solar, wind, hydro and next-gen nuclear power. That’s exactly what I saw traveling across Xinjiang back to back last year while shooting a documentary. Obviously myopic Baboon of Barbaria minions cannot possibly understand how China’s strategy of total domination in EVs, solar batteries and exporting electricity is protecting the Middle Kingdom from artificial oil/gas shocks such as the blockade. As it stands, The Invincible Armada remains in the outer fringes of the Gulf of Oman, out of range of many – but not all – Iranian missiles and drones, but certainly targeteable by long-range ballistics and hypersonics. The Americans will continue to use their ISR to track ships; then small boats and helicopters will engage in the “interdiction” procedure. So far, nothing happened. Well, actually a big thing happened: a sanctioned, non-Iranian supertanker capable of carrying 2 million barrels of oil, sailed to Iran via the Strait of Hormuz with the AIS switched on for every tracker to see. INDOPACOM didn’t dare to touch it. The Iranians, meanwhile, are just waiting. Asymmetrically. But make no mistake: they are itching to fight – in case the ceasefire collapses. In this case, we’ll be plunged right into the Mother of All Cliffhangers. Iran just needs to sink one American destroyer; and/or “disable” one of those multibillion-dollar sitting ducks with a missile/drone volley, guided by Chinese intel. The whole planet will then see it for what it is: the definitive, graphic strategic defeat of the Empire of Chaos, Lies, Plunder, Piracy and “If I Don’t Like You I’ll Kill You”. Bring it on. Empire of Piracy blockades Iran and China The post Empire of Piracy blockades Iran and China appeared first on TheAltWorld.

[Category: WORLD, China, Hormuz, Iran, USA]

— When Is a Ceasefire a Scam?

 

at 4/15/26 1:07pm

When Is a Ceasefire a Scam? Related Article: When Is a Ceasefire a Scam? The post When Is a Ceasefire a Scam? appeared first on TheAltWorld.

[Category: interview, Multimedia, WORLD, Iran, USA]

— China Humiliates Trump’s Blockade

 

at 4/15/26 11:30am

China Humiliates Trump’s Blockade The post China Humiliates Trump’s Blockade appeared first on TheAltWorld.

[Category: interview, Multimedia, WORLD, China, Hormuz, Iran, USA]

— Trump Panics as Iran’s Strategy Exposes His Biggest Defeat Yet

 

at 4/15/26 9:59am

Trump Panics as Iran’s Strategy Exposes His Biggest Defeat Yet The post Trump Panics as Iran’s Strategy Exposes His Biggest Defeat Yet appeared first on TheAltWorld.

[Category: interview, Multimedia, WORLD, Hormuz, Iran, Trump, USA]

— Israel Says NO Exit From Lebanon… So What is Beirut Negotiating? | Ep. 204

 

at 4/14/26 4:55pm

Live coverage of the war on Iran. Updates, analysis, and the latest developments as the conflict escalates across the region. The post Israel Says NO Exit From Lebanon… So What is Beirut Negotiating? | Ep. 204 appeared first on TheAltWorld.

[Category: interview, Multimedia, WORLD, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon]

— LEBANON-ISRAEL TALKS AN ILLEGAL SHAM TO COVER UP IDF LOSSES, ATTACKS ON CIVILIANS

 

at 4/14/26 4:25pm

The Trump Admin is pretending it’s making progress towards “peace” in Lebanon, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted a hand-picked envoy from the US-backed Lebanese government and an Israeli envoy, for talks in Washington on Tuesday. But Israel just doubled down on its refusal for a ceasefire, and put more pressure on Beirut to “disarm” Hezbollah. Veteran Lebanese Journalist Dr. Marwa Osman described the impact of Israel’s latest massacres across Lebanon, noting that every family has lost a friend or a loved one, as the death toll continues to climb. She also noted that the Trump Admin’s pressure on their puppets in Beirut is going to backfire, as Israel’s latest war crimes push the Lebanese people to increase support for Hezbollah, and as Resistance fighters refuse to let Israel occupy an inch of ground in the South. The post LEBANON-ISRAEL TALKS AN ILLEGAL SHAM TO COVER UP IDF LOSSES, ATTACKS ON CIVILIANS appeared first on TheAltWorld.

[Category: Editor pick, interview, Multimedia, WORLD, Hezbollah, Israel, Lebanon, war]

— Are Israel & the US Failing in Lebanon and Iran? w/ Jon Elmer

 

at 4/14/26 7:48am

As war spreads across Lebanon and Iran, the U.S. and Israel claim they are making progress. But on the ground, the picture looks far more complicated. After a supposed pause in fighting and failed negotiations, Israel escalated dramatically, launching massive strikes on Beirut while continuing its ground invasion in southern Lebanon. At the same time, Iran has held firm in negotiations, raising questions about whether Washington’s strategy is working. So who’s actually winning? In this episode of Dispatches, Rania Khalek speaks with journalist Jon Elmer of The Electronic Intifada to break down the military realities: Israel’s war in south Lebanon and the battle for Bint Jbeil Hezbollah’s resurgence and military capabilities The U.S.-Israel strategy against Iran What the failed negotiations reveal Whether this war is escalating toward a second phase Who’s actually winning right now? BT’s @RaniaKhalek speaks w/@jonelmer about: -Israel’s invasion of Lebanon -Hezbollah’s comeback -US-Israel vs Iran The post Are Israel the US Failing in Lebanon and Iran? w/ Jon Elmer appeared first on TheAltWorld.

[Category: interview, Multimedia, WORLD, Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, USA]

As of 4/18/26 1:09pm. Last new 4/18/26 6:39am.