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Inside Donald Trump’s secret, long-shot plan to end the war in Ukraine

Inside Donald Trump’s secret, long-shot plan to end the war in Ukraine

The Washington Post reports: Former president Donald Trump has privately said he could end Russia’s war in Ukraine by pressuring Ukraine to give up some territory, according to people familiar with the plan. Some foreign policy experts said Trump’s idea would reward Russian President Vladimir Putin and condone the violation of internationally recognized borders by force. Trump’s proposal consists of pushing Ukraine to cede Crimea and the Donbas border region to Russia, according to people who discussed it with Trump…

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Hundreds of new species discovered on Africa’s isolated sky islands

Hundreds of new species discovered on Africa’s isolated sky islands

GrrlScientist writes: Located in southeastern portion of Africa in the nations of Malawi and Mozambique, there lies a chain of mountains, or granitic inselbergs, that tower above the surrounding landscape. They were formed millions of years ago when the Earth’s crust pushed upward and torrential rainfall cut through and washed away the soil, leaving patches of forest perched atop granite mountain peaks, separated from lower elevations. These inselbergs comprise an “inland archipelago” or “sky islands”, if you prefer, that are…

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Gaza war turns spotlight on long pipeline of U.S. weapons to Israel

Gaza war turns spotlight on long pipeline of U.S. weapons to Israel

The New York Times reports: In the fall of 2016, the Obama administration sealed a major military agreement with Israel that committed the United States to giving the country $38 billion in arms over 10 years. “The continued supply of the world’s most advanced weapons technology will ensure that Israel has the ability to defend itself from all manner of threats,” President Barack Obama said. At the time, the agreement was uncontroversial. It was a period of relative calm for…

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Israeli inquiry findings on aid worker killings lack credibility, World Central Kitchen says

Israeli inquiry findings on aid worker killings lack credibility, World Central Kitchen says

The Guardian reports: World Central Kitchen has rejected as lacking credibility the findings of an Israeli investigation led by a former general into a coordinated series of Israeli drone strikes on the charity’s vehicles in Gaza this week that killed seven aid workers. As the Israel Defense Forces blamed a series of “grave errors” by officers for the deadly attack that killed three Britons, three other foreign nationals and a Palestinian colleague while delivering food, WCK renewed its calls for…

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Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemns Israeli attacks on worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque

Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemns Israeli attacks on worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque

Days after Israel killed 7 aid workers in Gaza…on one of the holiest nights of Ramadan for Muslims…Israeli forces used drones to tear gas worshipers inside Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied E Jerusalem.Imagine the outrage if Jewish worshipers were similarly attacked in a synagogue. https://t.co/ljK0CYDw6A — Rula Jebreal (@rulajebreal) April 6, 2024 Arab News reports: The Organization of Islamic Cooperation strongly condemned Israeli forces for preventing thousands of people from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque on Friday. It also denounced a “blatant attack…

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Trump is accidentally exposing Judge Cannon’s shady pro-MAGA game

Trump is accidentally exposing Judge Cannon’s shady pro-MAGA game

Greg Sargent writes: When Judge Aileen Cannon handed down her latest ruling in the prosecution of Donald Trump for stealing classified documents, many legal observers immediately understood the shady gamesmanship lurking behind it. She did, technically, rule against Trump by refusing to dismiss the case—but actually made it easier for herself to kill the case later, or to steer a jury toward an acquittal. Trump’s lawyers had argued that the Presidential Records Act, which was passed in the wake of…

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When a top Republican says Russian propaganda has infected the GOP

When a top Republican says Russian propaganda has infected the GOP

The Washington Post reports: During the first impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump in 2019, former Trump national security aide Fiona Hill made an extraordinary plea. Seated in front of congressional Republicans, she implored them not to spread Russian propaganda. “In the course of this investigation, I would ask that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests,” she told them. She was referring to comments they had made during her earlier deposition breathing life…

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Anonymous users are dominating right-wing discussions online. They also spread false information

Anonymous users are dominating right-wing discussions online. They also spread false information

The Associated Press reports: The reposts and expressions of shock from public figures followed quickly after a user on the social platform X who uses a pseudonym claimed that a government website had revealed “skyrocketing” rates of voters registering without a photo ID in three states this year — two of them crucial to the presidential contest. “Extremely concerning,” X owner Elon Musk replied twice to the post this past week. “Are migrants registering to vote using SSN?” Georgia Rep….

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Capitalism and underdevelopment in the American South

Capitalism and underdevelopment in the American South

Keri Leigh Merritt writes: In 1938, near the end of the Great Depression, the US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt commissioned a ‘Report on the Economic Conditions of the South’, examining the ‘economic unbalance in the nation’ due to the region’s dire poverty. In a speech following the report, Roosevelt deemed the South ‘the nation’s No 1 economic problem’, declaring that its vast levels of inequality had led to persistent underdevelopment. Although controversial, Roosevelt’s comments were historically accurate. The president’s well-read…

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Blinken warns: Israel risks becoming indistinguishable from Hamas if it doesn’t protect Gaza civilians

Blinken warns: Israel risks becoming indistinguishable from Hamas if it doesn’t protect Gaza civilians

The Times of Israel reports: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warns that Israel risks becoming indistinguishable from Hamas if it continues to fail to protect civilians amid the Gaza war. “What happened after October 7 could have ended immediately if Hamas had stopped hiding behind civilians, released the hostages and put down its weapons, but Israel is not Hamas. Israel is a democracy; Hamas, a terrorist organization. Democracies place the highest value on human life, every human life. As…

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Pelosi joins House Democrats urging Biden to halt arms transfers to Israel

Pelosi joins House Democrats urging Biden to halt arms transfers to Israel

Breaking: 40 Democratic Representatives, including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have called on President Biden to halt offensive arms transfers to Israel. https://t.co/8zFxayNoKT — Hassan El-Tayyab (@HassanElTayyab) April 5, 2024 The Times of Israel reports: Several dozen Democratic members of Congress have sent a letter to US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling for a halt on arms transfers to Israel following an IDF strike in Gaza that killed seven staffers of World Central Kitchen, including a…

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Norman Finkelstein on Gaza: The U.S. could have stopped Israel on day one

Norman Finkelstein on Gaza: The U.S. could have stopped Israel on day one

  Renowned scholar and activist Norman Finkelstein discusses Israel’s war on Gaza with Marc Lamont Hill. As Israel’s war on Gaza continues, killing more than 33,000 people, numerous scholars and politicians have voiced concern and condemned Israel’s policies and actions. Among those critics is Norman Finkelstein, a staunch advocate for Palestinian freedom and one of the foremost historians on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, himself a son of Holocaust survivors. This week on UpFront, Norman Finkelstein shares his insights on Israel’s war…

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Israel and U.S. are on alert for Iran to retaliate against Israeli attack on Damascus embassy

Israel and U.S. are on alert for Iran to retaliate against Israeli attack on Damascus embassy

The New York Times reports: Iran vowed on Friday to avenge Israel’s killing of senior commanders and other officers of its elite Quds Force, at a public funeral held for the dead men, elevating fears of open war but leaving unsaid how it would retaliate or when. U.S. officials in Washington and the Middle East said on Friday that they were bracing for possible Iranian retaliation for the Israeli airstrike on Monday in Damascus, Syria. U.S. military forces in the…

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Top Israeli spy chief accidentally exposes his true identity in online security lapse

Top Israeli spy chief accidentally exposes his true identity in online security lapse

Huge embarrassment to Brigadier-General Yossi Sariel the commander of the prestigious Israeli intelligence unit 8200. The Guardian exposes his full name following a book which Sariel himself authored in 2021. He wrote a book about AI under his name's acronym as YS and published… — Yossi Melman (@yossi_melman) April 5, 2024 The Guardian reports: The identity of the commander of Israel’s Unit 8200 is a closely guarded secret. He occupies one of the most sensitive roles in the military, leading…

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