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Category: War

As Trump allies see Hegseth’s growing pile of mistakes, U.S. military pilots say their lives are at risk

As Trump allies see Hegseth’s growing pile of mistakes, U.S. military pilots say their lives are at risk

Politico reports: The White House is publicly defending Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after he texted sensitive military information in a Signal chat. But behind the scenes, administration insiders are starting to express doubts about the Pentagon chief’s judgment. Officials agree national security adviser Mike Waltz, who accidentally invited a journalist to a group chat with senior leaders, could more easily take the fall for a scandal that has embarrassed the administration — which may end up sparing Hegseth his job….

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Trump ‘running out of patience’ with Putin over Ukraine ceasefire, says Finland’s president

Trump ‘running out of patience’ with Putin over Ukraine ceasefire, says Finland’s president

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump is losing patience with Vladimir Putin’s stalling tactics over the Ukraine ceasefire, the Finnish president, Alexander Stubb, said after spending nine hours with the US president – including winning a golf competition with him at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday. Stubb, who also spent two days with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, last week in Helsinki suggested in a Guardian interview a plan for a deadline of 20 April, by which time Putin…

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American hypocrisy about Israel’s nuclear weapons must stop

American hypocrisy about Israel’s nuclear weapons must stop

Victor Gilinsky and Leonard Weiss write: An extraordinary three-part series on Israeli television, The Atom and Me, lays out how the country got its nuclear weapons. It takes for granted what anyone who pays attention has known for years. But the series goes well beyond a general discussion about Israel’s nuclear weapons. It shows the country’s single-minded determination to get the bomb no matter what it took, including stealing nuclear explosives and bomb components from the United States and violating…

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The plan to turn Ukraine into a Trump-Putin Inc joint venture

The plan to turn Ukraine into a Trump-Putin Inc joint venture

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard writes: Donald Trump is holding a gun to the head of Volodymyr Zelensky, demanding huge reparations payments and laying claim to half of Ukraine’s oil, gas, and hydrocarbon resources as well as almost all its metals and much of its infrastructure. The latest version of his “minerals deal”, obtained by The Telegraph, is unprecedented in the history of modern diplomacy and state relations. “It is an expropriation document,” said Alan Riley, an expert on energy law at the…

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‘We want to live’: Rage at Israel fuses with ire at Hamas as protests rock Gaza

‘We want to live’: Rage at Israel fuses with ire at Hamas as protests rock Gaza

Ruwaida Amer reports: For the past two days, Palestinians across the Gaza Strip have taken to the streets to demand an end to Israel’s genocidal onslaught and to Hamas’ rule of the territory. Beginning in the northern city of Beit Lahiya, demonstrations quickly spread to other parts of the enclave including Shuja’iyya in the north, Nuseirat and Deir Al-Balah in the center, and Khan Younis in the south. The protests are the largest since the war began, and the most…

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Trump administration wants to turn Ukraine into an American colony

Trump administration wants to turn Ukraine into an American colony

Bloomberg reports: The US is pushing to control all major future infrastructure and mineral investments in Ukraine, potentially gaining a veto over any role for Kyiv’s other allies and undermining its bid for European Union membership. President Donald Trump’s administration is demanding the “right of first offer” on investments in all infrastructure and natural resources projects under a revised partnership deal with Ukraine, according to a draft of the document obtained by Bloomberg News. If accepted, the partnership agreement would…

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Who literally calls the shots in this White House? Stephen Miller

Who literally calls the shots in this White House? Stephen Miller

Garrett Graff asks: Who holds the power in the Trump administration? The full Signal chat provides some of the most “real” indications of where power lies in the Trump administration and how decision-making happens—and none of it is pretty. The answer is shocking, but perhaps not surprising: Donald Trump isn’t that engaged in the policy of his administration, JD Vance is weak and powerless, and the only one that matters is Stephen Miller. I wrote earlier this week about how fascinating it was…

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‘Trump doesn’t have a Yemen policy.’ The folly of U.S. airstrikes on the Houthis

‘Trump doesn’t have a Yemen policy.’ The folly of U.S. airstrikes on the Houthis

Mohammed Ali Kalfood writes: On his third day back in the White House, President Donald Trump issued an executive order re-designating Houthi rebels in Yemen as a foreign terrorist organization. He ordered the Pentagon to start preparing military plans against the militant group and imposed sanctions on Houthi leaders, along with their main backer, Iran. Then, on March 15, Trump announced a new U.S. bombing campaign against the Houthis in Yemen that has now continued for 10 days. “YOUR TIME…

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While powerful institutions bow to Trump, The Atlantic just backed him into a corner

While powerful institutions bow to Trump, The Atlantic just backed him into a corner

Jeffrey Goldberg and Shane Harris write: So, about that Signal chat. On Monday, shortly after we published a story about a massive Trump-administration security breach, a reporter asked the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, why he had shared plans about a forthcoming attack on Yemen on the Signal messaging app. He answered, “Nobody was texting war plans. And that’s all I have to say about that.” At a Senate hearing yesterday, the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, and the…

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During stunning operational security failure, Hegseth wrote, ‘I will do all we can to enforce 100% OPSEC,’

During stunning operational security failure, Hegseth wrote, ‘I will do all we can to enforce 100% OPSEC,’

Jeffrey Goldberg writes: The world found out shortly before 2 p.m. eastern time on March 15 that the United States was bombing Houthi targets across Yemen. I, however, knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming. The reason I knew this is that Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, had texted me the war plan at 11:44 a.m. The plan included precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing. This is going to require…

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Texts reveal a team of amateurs in charge of national security

Texts reveal a team of amateurs in charge of national security

Following Jeffrey Goldberg’s revelation that he was inadvertently added to a group chat for discussing classified war plans, Garrett Graff writes: Lost amid the headline-grabbing insanity of the classified details is what the principals were discussing on the group chat. It doesn’t take reading too deeply between the lines to see that the principals weren’t entirely clear on what Trump had ordered — someone, apparently Stephen Miller, says, “as I heard it, the president was clear: green light” — which…

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I negotiated for Israeli prime ministers. Netanyahu is lying

I negotiated for Israeli prime ministers. Netanyahu is lying

Daniel Levy writes: It has taken less than two months for normal service to be resumed – a White House that is the plaything of the prime minister of a client state, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu. Having briefly flirted with leading the ‘ceasefire over war’ camp, the US is back to bombing Yemen, threatening Iran with military action, and undermining its own negotiations in the service of greenlighting Israel’s resumed bombing of Gaza. Trump has apparently been reminded who is the…

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Israel’s return to war is a prelude to mass expulsion

Israel’s return to war is a prelude to mass expulsion

Ben Reiff writes: Two months after agreeing to a ceasefire deal that should have ended the war, Israel has resumed its bombardment of the Gaza Strip with an intensity that recalls the earliest days of the onslaught. Israeli airstrikes have killed over 400 Palestinians and wounded hundreds more since the early hours of this morning, and the army has ordered thousands of residents of the towns and neighborhoods spanning the perimeter of the Strip to flee their homes. Israel has again fully sealed off Rafah…

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Trump said to ‘green-light’ renewal of Gaza strikes, killing over 400 Palestinians

Trump said to ‘green-light’ renewal of Gaza strikes, killing over 400 Palestinians

The Times of Israel reports: US President Donald Trump gave Israel a “green light” to renew military operations against Hamas in Gaza, US media reported Tuesday, as the international community lamented the collapse of the hostage-ceasefire deal. Trump made the decision after Hamas refused to release more hostages, an Israeli official was quoted as telling The Wall Street Journal. Israel let the US know that it was resuming strikes on Gaza before carrying them out, the official added, echoing other…

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Putin doesn’t want peace. He wants to subjugate Ukraine

Putin doesn’t want peace. He wants to subjugate Ukraine

Mykola Bielieskov writes: Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered an evasive initial response to US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire proposal, backing the idea in principle while listing a series of additional demands that make any meaningful progress unlikely. Officials in Kyiv will be hoping Putin’s reluctance to embrace the US-led ceasefire initiative will help convince their American colleagues that the Kremlin dictator is not genuinely interested in ending the war. Many in Ukraine have been dismayed by recent US suggestions…

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Starvation is not a negotiating tactic

Starvation is not a negotiating tactic

Megan Stack writes: “You do whatever you want,” President Trump said he told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. Mr. Netanyahu, it seems, took Mr. Trump at his word. Israel has clamped Gaza back under near-total siege, barring desperately needed humanitarian aid and other goods from entering the hungry and bomb-decimated enclave. Food, medicine, tents, fuel — for the past week and a half, supplies have not been permitted into Gaza, where some two million Palestinians are trying to survive in the wreckage….

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