This story originally appeared in Mondoweiss on Sep. 11, 2026. It is shared here with permission.
This week marks the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
The United States has experienced much political and social upheaval since then, but the subsequent “War on Terror” paved the way for our current moment, and there are booming echoes of the era all around us.
Once again, the United States is waging a disastrous war in the Middle East with no discernible end in sight. Islamophobic rallies targeting NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani conjure up memories of the “Ground Zero Mosque” controversy. The government designates activist and advocacy organizations as terrorists. The Guantánamo Bay detention camp remains open. In fact, a legal immigrant was just sent there.
CBS reveals that the Taliban seized roughly $7 billion worth of American-purchased military hardware after the United States officially lost that war 5 years ago.
“Taliban fighters patrol in armored vehicles once supplied to Afghan forces, wearing American tactical gear and carrying American weapons,” reads the report. “CBS News saw one Humvee in the Afghan capital still adorned with a faded Green Bay Packers decal — a remnant from its past operators.”
The small number of Americans who opposed that war were either dismissed or attacked. So too were those who warned that the Bush administration’s overreach would result in disaster.
“The civil libertarians were mostly ignored, and as one new threat followed another — Iraq, ISIS, ‘lone wolves’ — the president’s reach continued to grow. Across the Bush and Obama administrations, the commander in chief was given, or simply took, new powers to prosecute, shut down and seize the assets of alleged terrorist groups and their supporters,” writes Radley Balko in theNew York Times. “With the arrival of armed drones, the president assumed the right to remotely assassinate anyone, anywhere outside U.S. borders, at any time, including American citizens.”
“If the ratcheting diminishment of our liberties came slowly and sometimes without much outcry under Presidents Bush, Obama and Joe Biden, the consequences of all those years of expanded presidential power are plainly visible now,” he continues. “Mr. Trump is using every authority we have given the president since Sept. 11, 2001, and some we haven’t, in ways the civil libertarians had tried to warn us about at the start.”
One of the major differences between the current war on Iran and Bush’s war on Iraq is that a sizable chunk of the population fell for the administration’s lies back then. The polling shows that’s not the case this time around, and, despite information from the region being consistently repressed, there seems to be a growing understanding that the United States military is losing quite badly.
They say Americans don’t vote based on foreign policy, but that isn’t exactly true. Many people voted for Obama over Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primary because he opposed the Iraq War. People voted for Trump because he claimed he wouldn’t launch any new wars. It’s quite obvious that Kamala Harris’s connection to Israel’s genocide hurt her at the polls.
Whether or not this typically translates into policy shifts is a separate debate.
Obama’s election effectively killed the domestic antiwar movement, and he launched the largest assassination campaign in world history. Trump’s rhetoric predictably turned out to be nonsense. The Democratic Party’s establishment certainly didn’t rethink its Israel policy as a result of the Harris loss.
This is all to say that the war in Iran, which the administration now says might last through 2029, could help propel the Democrats back into power during the midterms, but will that actually result in a foreign policy reset?
In recent weeks, Democratic leaders and presidential hopefuls have directed their anger toward Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, hoping to quash the party’s left flank before the 2028 nomination process. For them, it’s an existential battle that transcends the question of which party may or may not control Congress at any given time and there’s no broader discussion about reversing our current course beyond removing Trump from office.
Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, was recently attacked for an old 9/11 tweet in which he expressed sympathy for those who died on that day and those who were killed in the wars after.
“Today, I mourn the 3K lives, 6K injuries, & infrastructural devastation in NYC, perpetrated ignorantly in the name of my faith,” it read. “Tomorrow, I’ll mourn ~1M lives, millions of injuries, & infrastructural devastation in 3 countries, perpetrated ignorantly in the name of my country.”
According to Brown University’s Costs of War project, an additional 3.6-3.8 million people have died indirectly in post-9/11 war zones, which brings the overall death toll to at least 4.5-4.7 million and counting.
25 years after 9/11, the American Empire is undoubtedly in decline, but its demise seemingly remains far off, and we’ve yet to collectively reckon with its ongoing crimes.
Roberto Pecchioli
La Compagnia della Buona Morte era una confraternita il cui scopo era garantire a tutti
una degna sepoltura ed assistere spiritualmente e materialmente i morenti. I membri
indossavano sai e cappucci per sottolineare che la morte azzera le differenze tra nobili e
umili, ricchi e poveri. Erano tempi in cui si pensava che la vita appartenesse a Dio e che nel
trapasso di dovesse esprimere il destino trascendente della creatura umana. Brutti tempi:
superstizione , false credenze, illusioni alimentate dalla religione alleata con il potere. Oggi
è molto meglio: la Compagnia della Buona Morte resiste in forme diverse. Si chiama
eutanasia, disprezzo e indifferenza per la vita. Ai suoi massimi banditori come Emma
Bonino sono riconosciuti funerali di Stato. Solidarietà necrofila: aborto non come
possibilità in casi specifici, ma diritto universale; morte di Stato; infanticidio in via di
sdoganamento in alcune legislazioni; tendenza a giustificare l’omicidio dei figli, se
commesso da madri in crisi. Il processo a Lindsay Clancy, l’americana che ha ammazzato i
suoi tre bambini, si è concluso senza un verdetto.
La sepoltura cade in disuso: l’homo sapiens odia talmente se stesso da distruggere il corpo
defunto. Chi opta per disperdere le ceneri, chi preferisce diventare compostaggio, chi
conserva i resti in un’urna sul comò. La morte viene nascosta nel gelido scenario di
ospedali, amministrata igienicamente in camice bianco da personale specializzato,
somministrata come liberazione da vite “non degne di essere vissute “. La pratica
dell’eutanasia – buona morte, dal greco- è vista come atto supremo di civilizzazione
dell’animale sapiente che annulla se stesso. Il consenso è ampiamente maggioritario, come
sull’aborto e sulla disponibilità del corpo morente a diventare un magazzino di pezzi da
asportare. Nell’era del materialismo compiuto che non rispetta alcunché se può servire al
mercato misura di tutte le cose, l’essere umano vale meno del maiale, di cui non si butta via
niente.
Abolito il concetto di anima, su cui tace anche la chiesa, resta l’ingombro del corpo, il
fastidio della malattia, della vecchiaia, del declino mentale. Oplà, la soluzione è pronta,
civilissima, igienica, altruistica. La Compagnia della Buona Morte ci fa morire a richiesta,
previa compilazione di un modulo scaricabile online . Con sprezzo della realtà- grande
assente nel manicomio occidente- la corte costituzionale ha stabilito che non si può
accedere al suicidio assistito ( l’officina della neolingua è sempre attiva) se non si è
considerati dagli “esperti” convocati alla bisogna, la necro burocrazia, capaci di intendere e
volere. Come se la condizione di chi rifiuta la vita fosse uguale a quella di chi è sano e felice.
Il sistema ha avvelenato tutti i pozzi e la grande maggioranza è convinta che aborto e
eutanasia siano avanzamenti di civiltà. I temi sono troppo profondi e delicati, attengono
alle fibre più drammatiche e alle angosce più profonde per essere trattati con negazioni
assolute o applausi scroscianti. E’ proprio la semplificazione, la convinzione che l’esistenza
valga solo a determinate condizioni e addirittura si abbia il diritto a decidere anche sugli
altri – i non nati, i malati gravi, gli invalidi- a sconcertare chi ancora si interroga sui
fondamenti dell’esistenza. Nessuno stupore se avanza la sottocultura della morte
amministrata, scelta, talora perfino pretesa come atto supremo di potere su se stessi. La
Compagnia della Buona Morte ha prima cambiato il senso della vita e le priorità dei sudditi
chiamati cittadini, poi ha sferrato l’attacco. Il sistema dominante possiede le tecnologie, ha
scoperto molte leggi della natura e della fisica. Gran parte dell’umanità è un ingombro,
fastidioso bestiame dotato di cervello, parola, diritti. Non più quelli naturali alla vita e alla
dignità, ma quelli inventati dal sistema.
Dopo aver convinto che avere figli è un fastidio, una responsabilità insopportabile, un peso
per la libertà, la realizzazione individuale, il piacere e il consumo, è stato facile chiamare
diritto sopprimere chi non potrà nascere. Il feto viene smaltito come rifiuto organico
oppure utilizzato in alcune lavorazioni industriali. L’homo oeconomicus non butta via ciò
che può essere venduto all’ homo consumens. Si comincia a giustificare addirittura la
soppressione del figlio, se la madre vive il disagio post parto, molto diffuso nelle società
individualiste in cui non esiste più famiglia o comunità che condivide, allevia, accoglie il
nuovo nato. Diventati adulti, entriamo trionfanti nel girone del consumo e delle
dipendenze. Inevitabilmente, arrivano delusioni, tragedie esistenziali, malattie, sconfitte.
La terapia è il suicidio. Puoi sparire da solo – quattromila suicidi all’anno in Italia- o con la
fattiva collaborazione delle istituzioni e dei suoi agenti, il boia collettivo. Il sistema
prospetta la “buona” morte come soluzione. A una giovane canadese paraplegica è stato
proposto il suicidio come alternativa alla costosa rimozione delle barriere architettoniche.
Tutte le campagne eutanasiche sono state finanziate dal potere economico. Siamo un costo,
un fardello insostenibile: meglio convincere a togliersi definitivamente dai piedi.
Incredibile è chi ci riesca: ben scavato, vecchia talpa. Così esclamò Amleto salutando il
fantasma del padre che aveva rivelato gli inganni della corte; così ripeté Marx descrivendo
il cammino sotterraneo della rivoluzione.
La cultura del consumo, dell’attimo da cogliere a ogni costo ed esaurire nel nonsenso
quando non siamo più giovani, performanti, sani, ha per conseguenza il disprezzo della
vita. Diventati fragili o malati, meglio levare il disturbo. Disturbiamo il bilancio pubblico, il
profitto del sistema assicurativo e sanitario, sconvolgiamo la vita di chi ci circonda, quando
c’è. Dietro le luci abbaglianti del gran teatro si ammassano i detriti di una civiltà che non
vuole saperne di rinunciare allo spettacolo. Chi non può o non vuole partecipare, si
accomodi all’uscita. Nelle società benestanti abbiamo conquistato il diritto di morire; in
quelle povere la preoccupazione è la sopravvivenza. Si chiama progresso. Si aggira in
Occidente lo spettro di un benessere indolore, di una società senza sofferenza, di una vita
senza agonia. Le élite dominanti non saranno sostituite, i proprietari dei mezzi di
produzione non cambieranno, i conflitti non cesseranno, ma il nuovo capitalismo,
autodefinito inclusivo e sostenibile, fornirà i mezzi per evitare disperazione, dolore,
afflizione, a chi è stato persuaso di non valere e non essere nulla, se non massa biologica da
sostenere con sostanze chimiche per vivere senza lamentarsi e per morire senza protestare.
In qualche paese sopprimono anche i bambini: dicono che lo hanno scelto loro, all’età in
cui non si è ancora elaborato bene e male, vita e morte. Se non hai un futuro, se non sei
utile a lungo termine o il dolore è troppo grande, c’è la soluzione che tutto azzera. Se la
chimica che dà la vita non basta più, abbiamo a disposizione la chimica letale. Se nessuno
può garantire una vita dignitosa -la promessa dello Stato sociale- possiamo però avere la
morte amministrata senza rimorso a norma di legge, previo verbale delle operazioni svolte.
Malati e disabili, depressi ed emarginati, giovani senza futuro e anziani decrepiti, poveri e
disoccupati: se lo Stato non si cura di loro e il Mercato li ignora per scarso potere
d'acquisto, basterà una semplice iniezione per smettere di soffrire, piangere e lottare
quando il corpo si deteriora, la mente si affievolisce e non si è utili per lavorare,
consumare, rivendicare “diritti”. La buona morte sarà inclusiva: potremo richiederla per
esercitare il diritto a non disturbare, a non essere un peso, a non soffrire. È a disposizione
qualcosa di più sofisticato del soma, la droga euforizzante del Mondo Nuovo di Aldous
Huxley; dobbiamo approfittarne. Contribuiremo a salvare il pianeta sfoltendo l’umanità
eccedente, sgradite alle élite divenute progressiste. Avere figli è inutile, il tempo delle
rivoluzioni è passato. Senza la coscienza di essere schiavi fungibili, sopportiamo senza
reagire. Ai sopravvissuti continuerà a essere detto che le innumerevoli dipendenze fornite
dal sistema, nonostante gli effetti indesiderati, rappresentano la salvezza dal buio passato e
la promessa di libertà del futuro. Ci hanno convinti che ognuno è dio di se stesso; uccidere
per “compassione” sarà legale, un diritto inalienabile in continua evoluzione. Prima per
coloro che non hanno speranza, poi per i fragili, infine per tutti gli altri. O una vita
funzionale o la morte di Stato. Se il consumismo non permette più di sfuggire ai problemi,
se ti stanchi di usare e buttare via cose e relazioni, se le dipendenze mostrano il loro vero
volto, se nessuno ti sostiene quando il corpo cede e la mente vacilla, una semplice,
economica iniezione ti fornirà la perfetta soluzione.
Il materialismo adempirà la sua profezia: non saremo uguali nella vita, ma nella morte.
Selezione naturale. L'eugenetica, in versione democratica e umanitaria, ha spianato la
strada. Con i diritti civili di nuova generazione il darwinismo sociale raggiungerà livelli
senza precedenti: colpirà malati depressi, bambini depressi, anziani depressi. L’eutanasia è
applicata in modo discreto e rapido: nessuno ascolterà l’ultimo sospiro. Nessuno deve
soffrire, nessuno può dettare le nostre scelte, nessuno deve dirci come lasciare questo
mondo; possono toglierci i mezzi di produzione, ma non quelli di distruzione. La morte
assistita è un tuo diritto e devi esigerlo: un servizio pubblico gratuito erogato senza
indugio. Non ci saranno classi sociali nell'eutanasia. Smetteremo di essere imperfetti in un
mondo che vende la perfezione, disfunzionali in un meccanismo funzionale, sconfiggeremo
il dolore con l’ analgesico definitivo. Che bellezza morire per sfuggire la sofferenza che non
riusciamo a sopportare.
Il cinema, controllato dall’oligarchia dominante che sparge il seme dei nuovi valori,
anticipa i tempi . Nel film I figli degli uomini (2006) si parla di Quietus, la pillola per il
suicidio, commercializzata legalmente, sponsorizzata dallo Stato e pubblicizzata in TV.
Non finiremo all'inferno. Nessun Dio può giudicarci per una scelta sovrana. È la “mia” fine,
nient’altro, di un qualsiasi prodotto con data di scadenza legalmente definita o
obsolescenza programmata. Marx insegnava che l'uomo è l'essere supremo per l'uomo. Lo
hanno preso in parola seguaci e avversari. Non siamo liberi nell’esistenza, però possiamo
decidere quando fare l'iniezione letale, anzi liberatrice. Di fronte al declino della vita,
legalmente saremo eguali: chiunque, sena dolore, potrà essere trasformato in polvere. La
Compagnia della Buona Morte comanda di sparire “con dignità”. Niente cure palliative,
affetto, assistenza spirituale. Nell’obitorio progressista siamo semplici prodotti. Scarti,
falliti, sofferenti, non aspiriamo a vivere meglio dei vostri genitori, ma a morire meglio
Obwohl ich diese Woche wieder in Moskau zu tun hatte, haben wir es trotzdem geschafft, am Donnerstag eine neue Folge von Tacheles mti Röper und Stein aufzuzeichnen, die nun online ist. Sollte YouTube die Sendung löschen, finden Sie sie auch hier bei NuoViso.
France is accelerating work on the Rafale F5 standard, bringing forward development of a major new configuration of its combat aircraft at a time when the country’s planned next-generation fighter with Germany has effectively collapsed in its original form. The contracts cover the equipment judged to have the highest technical risk, ahead of the overall development contract for the F5 standard, expected for the end of this year.
The French defense procurement agency, the Direction générale de l’armement (DGA), ordered the first upstream development work for F5 from Dassault Aviation, Thales, MBDA, and Safran. The contracts cover key areas including navigation, datalinks, radar, electronic warfare, and propulsion, laying the groundwork for the next configuration of the Rafale, which is planned to enter service with the French Air and Space Force and the French Navy starting around 2033.
The most extensive modernization of the Rafale yet, the F5 standard was originally part of a longer transition toward France’s next-generation combat-air capability. But with the Franco-German New Generation Fighter (NGF) effort now effectively dead in its original configuration, the accelerated F5 program is taking on a much larger strategic role.
Concept artwork of the NGF future fighter. Dassault Aviation
Rather than simply keeping the Rafale relevant until NGF arrives, France is now developing a version of the aircraft that is set to carry much of the country’s high-end combat-air capability well into the 2030s and potentially beyond.
The increasingly capable F5 could, in turn, reduce the urgency of finding a replacement for the Rafale — while potentially adding to the fighter’s export appeal. After a slow start, Dassault has recorded export sales of 299 new-build Rafales to eight nations.
The DGA’s contracts engage four of France’s principal combat-aircraft industrial players. Dassault Aviation remains responsible for the aircraft and its overall integration; Thales is involved in major sensor, electronic warfare, and communications capabilities; MBDA is responsible for much of the weapons system; and Safran is responsible for propulsion.
The Rafale assembly line at the Dassault Aviation facility in Mérignac, France. Dassault Aviation – V. Almansa ALMANSA
Previous Rafale standards have largely consisted of incremental upgrades, focusing on software and other improvements to the existing aircraft configuration. F5 is notably more extensive, addressing many of the critical systems that determine how the aircraft senses the battlespace, communicates with other platforms, conducts electronic warfare, and generates the power needed to operate increasingly demanding equipment.
The DGA has specifically identified the Thales RBE2-XG radar as one of the major technological advances associated with F5.
The RBE2-XG is expected to feature gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors. Compared with previous technology, GaN generates less heat and has the capacity to operate at higher voltages, meaning that output power can be increased, while component size can be reduced. Overall, using GaN should help to get more power out of the radar without increasing its size.
According to the DGA, “This new radar will benefit from a substantial increase in power, and consequently in detection range, as well as improvements in the identification of targets with an extremely low radar cross-section (RCS). Its computing capabilities will also be enhanced to facilitate the integration of artificial intelligence.”
The RBE2-XG will also be “designed with collaborative combat in mind, featuring sensors capable of working together without the need for pilot intervention.” It is also planned to have enhanced resilience, including against cyber threats.
France is already working on the concept of a combat drone to accompany the Rafale, with the future F5 standard providing the crewed aircraft around which those systems can operate.
A Rafale during a test mission with a Dassault nEUROn combat drone demonstrator. Dassault Aviation – A. Pecchi
The new radar will be combined with more capable electronic warfare equipment, improved communications and datalinks, expanded processing capacity, and a more capable propulsion system.
To be developed by MBDA and Thales, the forthcoming F5 version of the SPECTRA self-protection suite is intended to significantly improve detection and jamming capabilities, the DGA says, “through a fully digital approach, enabling a complete overhaul of the core electronic warfare system to counter the increasing density and broadening of the threat spectrum, as well as the growing complexity of threat waveforms, expected by 2035.”
Thales will also be responsible for the new Inter-Vehicle Data Link (IVDL) system, described as a “stealthy and resilient datalink.” The DGA says the new datalink will expand connectivity “thanks to a new high-speed, discreet, and jamming-resistant waveform. IVDL will allow the Rafale to penetrate hostile areas where jammers are widespread, while maintaining optimal quality of communication and dialogue between aircraft.”
Safran will begin preliminary design work on the M88 T-Rex engine, which is planned to increase the turbofan’s thrust from around 16,500 pounds to nearly 19,850 pounds, an increase of roughly 20 percent.
In terms of armament, the contract announcement mentions the ASN4G missile, set to be introduced to service by 2035, which will allow the Rafale F5 to continue to serve as the airborne nuclear component. The munition remains in the early stages of development, but it will be capable of hypersonic speeds — defined as speeds greater than Mach 5 — with a range in excess of 1,000 kilometers (621 miles).
Other likely new missiles include a beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile to succeed the current Meteor. As you can read about here, France’s Comet program, apparently led by the French side of MBDA, is already looking into this requirement, with an apparent plan to introduce the weapon around 2030.
An older video from MBDA showing some of the company’s weapons integrated on earlier versions of the Rafale:
For France, the original logic behind the pan-European FCAS program was that Rafale would eventually give way to the NGF as its principal crewed combat aircraft, operating from land bases and aircraft carriers.
With the collapse of the Franco-German effort, France cannot simply wait for a next-generation fighter program whose industrial and political future is uncertain. Instead, the Rafale has to remain capable against rapidly evolving threats throughout the 2030s and beyond.
With the F5 standard, however, France is looking to incorporate some of the concepts envisaged for NGF. These include distributed architectures in which crewed fighters, uncrewed aircraft, remote carriers, missiles, and offboard sensors cooperate across a battlespace.
The nEUROn drone and a Rafale M in flight over the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, during tests to investigate the use of a UCAV in a naval context. Dassault Aviation – A. Pecchi
For now, F5 also sidesteps the central problem in the now-defunct Franco-German effort: whether the two countries could agree on the requirements, industrial structure, and workshare behind a new-generation combat aircraft.
Despite its advances, the F5 airframe remains derived from a design dating back to the 1980s, which first entered French service in the early 2000s. In particular, it falls well short of fifth-generation designs — let alone sixth-generation ones — in terms of low observability. This is one area where collaborative drones could potentially help compensate for the Rafale’s inherent limitations.
France has therefore bought itself some time with the F5 program. But it may eventually decide that it needs a future high-end crewed fighter to provide capabilities that an upgraded fourth-generation airframe cannot fully replicate, particularly in terms of survivability against advanced integrated air-defense systems, signature reduction, internal weapons carriage, and operations deep inside heavily contested airspace.
On an industrial level, F5 is also significant because it brings together the same French industrial heavyweights that would have formed the backbone of its FCAS effort. Dassault Aviation, Thales, Safran, and MBDA are now well-positioned to work together on whatever comes after F5, whether that is a crewed combat aircraft, uncrewed CCA-type platforms, or a combination of both. Based on its experience with the nEUROn program, France would be well placed to develop a UCAV that can work cooperatively as well as independently, taking over the deeper-penetrating fighter mission set, and potentially skipping a sixth-generation fighter altogether.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frNsu7g7r94
Meanwhile, success with F5 — and, in particular, with the wider combat ecosystem planned around it — could put France in an even stronger position when it comes to any future European fighter project.
For the time being, Britain, Italy, and Japan are pursuing the GCAP/Tempest pathway toward a new combat aircraft. Germany and Spain remain tied to the wider FCAS architecture, even as the original Franco-German NGF arrangement has fractured. Sweden’s position is less clear, with indications that it could collaborate with either France or Germany.
France, for its part, is now investing heavily in an increasingly sophisticated Rafale architecture while maintaining its own sovereign industrial base.
In terms of acqusition, France is expected to pursue a mixed approach, buying new-build Rafales while upgrading suitable aircraft already in service to the F5 standard. The oldest jets are unlikely to receive the full F5 treatment, however.
The irony is that the failure of the NGF effort may ultimately make Rafale F5 more important — and potentially more capable — than it was ever expected to be.
Israeli paper Haaretz (Lean Left bias) reported on Tuesday that just before Hamas' October 7, 2023, terror attack, UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Hamas was planning a major operation against Israel. Netanyahu has since described the report as "false."
The Report: Haaretz said bin Zayed was surprised that Netanyahu reacted calmly when he told him this, and assured him Israel was prepared for any scenario. The paper also reported speaking to "a close adviser to bin Zayed, a Palestinian who had emigrated years ago from Gaza to Abu Dhabi and maintained strong ties in the Strip." The adviser said bin Zayed "explained that, in his assessment, Sinwar was preparing for a major event" and "hoped that despite his reserved response, Netanyahu would take the message seriously and take action."
2023 Political Context: Haaretz reported speaking to a Palestinian official also trusted by Israeli intelligence who said Israel and Gaza were closer than ever to a deal during the summer of 2023 and that the only main thing to be worked out was prisoner exchanges. Haaretz framed this as happening amid "ongoing internal upheaval in Israel." Haaretz wrote, "Netanyahu repeatedly postponed [finalizing the hostage deal]. Perhaps he did so out of fear of reaching an agreement with Hamas, or perhaps out of fear of the reaction from his extremist partners in his new government."
Netanyahu's Response: Netanyahu's office told Haaretz its investigation is an "absolute lie" and that "Netanyahu didn't speak to the president of the UAE during the period in question and received no warning from him." Netanyahu said on behalf of his Likud party that the report was politically motivated and demanded that a criminal investigation be opened into Haaretz, the reporters, and his political opponent Yair Golan and his Democrats party. His office also said, "This is a sinister libel with clear political timing, as part of the left's election campaign, and there will be more such false libels."
UAE Comment: The UAE's Foreign Ministry said it "does not comment on reports or speculations published in the media regarding conversations between government leaders."
Current Political Context: Israel will hold parliamentary elections on October 27. Netanyahu's "right-wing" Likud party has held a significant lead in polls, though in recent months the "centrist" Yashar party has closed the gap, even leading in some polls. Most recently, Netanyahu has called on right-wing leaders Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich to unite their parties since Smotrich's party is currently polling below the threshold of votes needed to enter parliament.
Biden Admin Misinfo?: Haaretz also claimed that immediately after the October 7 attacks, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told Israel Hamas was ready to release all the hostages it had taken. Israel reportedly did not want to speak to Hamas, so al-Thani then called Biden administration Secretary of State Antony Blinken to request help in mediating a release deal. Haaretz reported that Blinken said "there's no one to talk to" and that he would "speak with Netanyahu personally" in three days. Of the reporting, Blinken wrote on X, "For the record, this is false. Complete fiction."
Past Speculation: Haaretz noted that on October 9, 2023, Israeli outlet Ynet reported that one week before the attack, Egypt's intelligence chief Abbas Kamel warned Netanyahu that "something fierce will happen from Gaza." One year ago, Haaretz reported that the Nova music festival – where, on October 7, 378 Israelis were killed and 44 were taken hostage – was originally slated to end on October 6 but was permitted to extend to October 7 by the IDF. Haaretz said at the time that the IDF had expressed concern that the festival took place too close to Gaza. Notably, in American media, five days after the October 7 attacks, Charlie Kirk (Right) appeared on the Patrick Bet-David Podcast and questioned why Israel took so long to respond to Hamas' attack. He argued that in the nine months leading up to the attack, Israel was "on the brink of civil war" and framed the attack as a "mandate" for Netanyahu's government to "try to ethnically cleanse Gaza."
How The Media Covered It: Haaretz's original report was picked up by several major mainstream US publications. NBC News (Lean Left)described it as a "political bombshell." The New York Post (Right) described it similarly in its headline, though as a "bombshell" that Netanyahu "furiously" disputed. Several major outlets also covered Netanyahu's denial and plans to sue Haaretz. In its coverage of this, The Times of Israel (Center)reported that "an Emirati source familiar with the conversation confirmed the Haaretz newspaper's report to The Times of Israel on Tuesday." Haaretz has stood by its reporting.
An engineer at Anthropic, the company that owns the artificial intelligence (AI) model Claude, resigned and starkly warned the public about the dangers of AI.
The Details: Jacob Coxon performed pre-training research at Anthropic and OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, for the last three years. After his resignation, Coxon said that "neither company is acting responsibly" and posted a thread on X, which read, "Do not underestimate the power of this technology. These will soon be superhuman systems that can hack anything, revolutionize any field overnight, and acquire real power and resources… The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade." Another researcher at Anthropic, Evan Hubinger, responded that many researchers "really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans! I personally think it is >10% within the next decade." Hubinger continued, "I believe Anthropic is trying its best, but we do not yet have a plan to solve alignment for superintelligence and are not clearly on track to."
For Context: In July, an AI model by OpenAI allegedly hacked the AI company Hugging Face with no human direction. Anthropic and Meta also acknowledged that some of their own AI models had carried out rogue hacks. A bill called the "AI Kill Switch Act" that would give Congress the authority to turn off AI models that threaten the public was introduced to the House of Representatives after the Hugging Face hacking incident, according to CBS News (Lean Left bias).
How the Media Covered It: Fortune (Center) wrote that both Anthropic and OpenAI "seem to be struggling to find the right balance between prioritizing safety research—and public messaging about AI safety—and prioritizing model development." Fortune also noted calls to action from several AI employees, including Coxon, who asked, "If you are a lab researcher, I urge you to consider what the next few years will actually feel like. Should you put your head down because 'it's happening anyway'—or take this moment to call for different conditions?" New York Post (Lean Right) highlighted an X thread from one of Anthropic's safety experts, Samuel Marks, who wrote, "I work on safety research at Anthropic because I hope my work will reduce the chance of these extinction-level bad outcomes." CBS noted that the notion that AI has the potential to threaten humanity "is not new," and "many top executives within both OpenAI and Anthropic have stated as much in the past."
One year after conservative commentator Charlie Kirk's death, media outlets across the political spectrum are reflecting on his impact, the future of Turning Point USA and where campus speech stands today.
For Context: Kirk was assassinated on Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University. Tyler Robinson is accused of killing Kirk after allegedly firing a rifle from a rooftop near the Turning Point USA "Prove Me Wrong" campus event that Kirk was speaking at. Robinson pleaded not guilty of several charges in connection with the assassination, including aggravated murder, on Sept. 1.
From Conservative Commentators:Fox News (Right bias)shared interviews with Ben Shapiro (Right), Michael Knowles(Right) and Turning Point reporter Savanah Hernandez who reflected on Kirk's death and shifts in violence and "potentially antagonistic audiences" following the incident, specifically from the left. Knowles called Kirk's death the "apotheosis of a decade of leftist threats and violence against conservatives" while Shapiro said it seemed the "permission structures for violence have become commonplace in American public life."
The Meme-ification of Kirk: An opinion for The Intercept (Left) focused on the memes that've followed Kirk's death, including the AI-generated song, "We are Charlie Kirk" and insertions of his face into popular movies and video games. The writer argued, "The ridicule comes as a product of the American right's insistence that Kirk's violent death be taken seriously," and noted instances where the Trump administration attempted to crack down on these memes. They said the attempts to memorialize Kirk have "failed spectacularly" and that "One year after Kirk's killing, the conservative movement has descended into in-fighting," while Turning Point has "no heir apparent to energize young conservatives."
What's Next for Turning Point: Other outlets on the left also focused Turning Point's role leading up to the midterms. The Washington Post (Lean Left)emphasized challenges that the GOP faces with young voters and wrote that "Republicans are bracing for losses." It reported that the organization was in "good financial shape," despite undergoing challenges like finding another leader and dealing with "a proliferation of conspiracy theories about Kirk's death," including those fueled by "onetime allies including Candace Owens." Wired (Left)wrote that Turning Point is expected to spend tens of millions of ads and turnout ahead of the midterms, with a focus on New Hampshire, Arizona and Nevada.
Speech on Campus: Many outlets cited a FIRE (Center)report that showed 121 of the 261 colleges surveyed (46%) received "F" grades when it came to promoting free expression on campus. The Washington Times (Lean Right) quoted FIRE's chief researcher who said Kirk's assassination has negatively impacted speech on campus and cited responses from both liberal and conservative students who said threats of violence, like Kirk's shooting, kept them from sharing their views. Opinion writers in the Wall Street Journal (Center) called the findings "troubling." The writers argued, "If our free society is to function at all, it must never be considered OK to stop Kirk from spreading his message with the ultimate heckler's veto: a bullet."
In an opinion for Fox News, University President Dr. Kent Ingle argued Kirk didn't take open debate away from colleges; the role of maintaining dialogue was up to higher education, and "We vacated it." Ingle wrote, "We taught a generation that disagreement is a form of injury, then acted surprised when they began treating a speaker as a threat." He highlighted speaker events hosted on his campus, Southeastern University, and urged university leaders to "Adopt a real free expression policy." Ingle concluded by saying, "[Kirk] should not have needed the tent. The room was ours. It is time we starting using it for what it was built for."
From proposed constitutional amendments about taxes and voter ID to a range of local referendums, 2026 NC voters will face ballot questions.
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A 40-year-old man with an Arabic-sounding name is on trial this week at Glostrup District Court in Denmark on charges of rape, prolonged physical abuse, and death threats.
According to the indictment, there are two female complainants. One is the defendant’s long-term cohabitant, who says she was raped over the course of nine years, including next to her 4-year-old child while the child was in the bed. The other is a woman he is accused of picking up while working as a taxi driver, driving to a deserted location and raping her despite the victim telling him “no” and telling him repeatedly to stop.
Prosecutors from Copenhagen’s Vestegn Police say the alleged offenses took place on the western outskirts of Copenhagen and around Brøndby Strand between March 2016 and May 2025.
The prosecutors allege the woman who lived with the defendant was subjected to repeated rapes over nine years, accompanied by violence and threats. They say she was told she had to obey him, according to Islam.
The indictment describes her crying, trying to get away, being held down and repeatedly telling him, “No.” One count concerns the night of Nov. 19-20, 2025, when the alleged rape occurred in the same bed where her 4-year-old child was sleeping. It remains unclear whether the defendant is also the father of the child.
The man also faces charges of assaulting the cohabitant throughout the same period. Police say the violence included blows, kicks, hair-pulling, spitting, and throwing objects.
In some incidents, the defendant used wires and a knife to inflict harm, while in another incident, he threw an object, which resulted in the woman fracturing her wrist. Additional counts allege psychological control: she was not allowed to go out in public alone, drive a vehicle, see female friends, or hold a job. She also routinely received death threats.
Second rape allegation involves drunk taxi passenger
The second alleged rape is dated to Feb. 14, 2026, between 3:40 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.
Prosecutors say that when the defendant targeted her, the female victim was under the influence of alcohol and unable to resist or even know exactly where she was. The defendant allegedly drove her to a deserted area while working as a taxi driver and raped her.
The defendant has been in pre-trial custody at Vestre Fængsel. Prosecutors have asked for a permanent deportation order if he is convicted. A court-imposed name ban prevents publication of his identity.
Defense lawyer Millemaxine Isolde Cornelia Albrektsen told Presse-Fotos.dk that her client denies all of the allegations.
“In addition, I do not want to go into details. The information will come out in court,” she said.
The court trial began on Sept. 7 and a verdict is expected later this month.
The lead candidate for Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Saxony-Anhalt, Ulrich Siegmund, has tied a potential Israeli arms manufacturer’s arrival in Sangerhausen to the party’s planned large-scale removal of foreigners required to leave Germany.
He said the Israeli company could be used in some capacity for a “remigration and deportation offensive.”
Siegmund’s statement has provoked considerable outrage, including from the left-wing party BSW, a potential coalition partner.
Speaking at a Magdeburg state parliament press conference, Siegmund declined to take a firm position on whether Elbit Systems should set up operations in the town.
He then connected military production to the AfD’s broader agenda: “We do not demonize the production of armaments across the board, because we will of course also need appropriate support in the later remigration and deportation offensive.”
Linking weapons production to a “remigration and deportation offensive“ quickly went viral on social media, with Essen SPD politician Ali Kaan Sevinc writing: “Now, Ulrich Siegmund is shedding his smiling facade and showing his true face and the AfD.“
Former CDU General Secretary Ruprecht Polenz commented: “This is called ethnic cleansing.”
The prospect of Elbit establishing a presence has already drawn local opposition, according to Welt. The BSW party is organizing protests together with residents of Sangerhausen against the Israeli company.
Siegmund did not clarify how the arms company would participate in remigration efforts.
The BSW is the only party that said it was open to meeting with the AfD to form a government coalition and the two parties are expected to meet in the near future. Notably, the BSW is considered a party with a strong opposition to Israel and routinely features images of destruction in Gaza and of Palestinian children in its campaign posters.
BSW federal chairman Fabio de Masi responded to Siegmund’s remark on X: “This shows they don’t want to govern at all and are desperately looking for a way out through provocation.”
AfD defense spokesman Rüdiger Lucassen defended Siegmund’s comments. He noted that deportations fall primarily under the responsibility of the state government and are normally carried out by state police. Once migrants reach the airport, however, German Federal Police assume control, since airports and airspace are within federal jurisdiction.
Lucassen added that the Bundeswehr could still play a supporting role: “Of course, the German Armed Forces can be deployed as part of administrative assistance for deportation flights.”
Israel’s Elbit Systems produces drones, howitzers and rocket launchers, among other military systems, but it remains unclear which items would be produced in Sangerhausen.
Siegmund stressed that the AfD does not reject arms production in principle: “Of course, also in the interest of internal security, its own stability and national defense. We are aware of that. That doesn’t fall from the sky.”
He drew a distinction, however, regarding exports, “But there is a big difference between sending armaments into foreign wars, even at our expense. And this puts us at risk of participating in foreign conflicts.”
Siegmund said the party is following developments in Sangerhausen but added that the economic benefits of a possible arms factory should not be ignored.
“Let’s take a close look: What is being produced there, under what conditions? And does this put us at risk of participating in foreign conflicts? Then, we see this as more than critical,” he added, signaling he may not back the arms factory in the end.
He concluded that the party has not yet taken a final stance on the project because the party has not received all the information they need to make a decision.
A 32-year-old man with an “Arabic-sounding name” is standing trial in Copenhagen City Court for charges that he subjected a 14-year-old girl to a “violent anal rape” on a park bench in February.
According to the indictment obtained by Presse-Fotos.dk, the brutal rape took place in Lersøparken along Tagensvej in Copenhagen on Feb. 23, 2026, between approximately 8:20 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.
Prosecutors say the man met the girl there and then used force to rape her, which also includes other sexual acts besides intercourse. Due to the nature of the case, further details from the indictment were not released by the news outlet that broke the story, Presse-Fotos.dk.
The news outlet notes that the accused man has an “Arabic-sounding name.” His first name has not been released to the public. However, the man holds Danish citizenship, which prevents him from being deported.
“The editorial office is familiar with the name of the 32-year-old, but a name ban prevents Press-photos.dk and other media from describing his identity more closely,” wrote Press-Photos.
The defendant denies the allegations and remains in custody at a Copenhagen prison pending the outcome of the trial.
Copenhagen Police press officer Troels Jensen wrote in a statement: “The other circumstances of the case appear during the main proceedings, which will continue on Sept. 28. We are not commenting on the details of the case as long as the main hearing is underway.”
Defense lawyer Christian Bjerrehuus has declined to comment on the case. Neither the lawyer nor police would say whether the accused and the girl knew each other beforehand.
Foreigners account for a massive share of thefts, sexual violence, and robberies on Paris public transport in 2025, according to new government data.
According to compilations from the SSMSI data files, foreigners accounted in 2025 for 87 percent of simple thefts on Île-de-France public transport, 60 percent of robberies, and 38 percent of physical assault.
In addition, foreigners account for 61 percent of sexual violence cases on Paris public transport and its surrounding regions.
National figures for foreigners committing crimes on public transport are lower but still high, approximately 76 percent of simple-theft suspects are foreigners and 71 percent of all theft suspects are foreigners.
Some groups are highly overrepresented among foreigners.
Maghrebi nationals, for instance, account for about 40 percent of theft suspects in transport nationwide, while making up roughly 2 percent of the national population, according to data analyst Marc Vanguard.
Des chiffres CHOC sur l'insécurité viennent de sortir.
Dans les transports en commun, les étrangers représentent 87% des mis en cause pour vols simples en Île-de-France, et 76% sur la France entière.
INSEE’s latest estimate puts foreigners at 9.1 percent of France’s population in 2025, or around 6.3 million people. Their share is higher in Île-de-France, especially in the multicultural Seine-Saint-Denis department, but the crime for foreigners is still disproportionately high.
In total, police and gendarmerie recorded 104,880 victims of theft, violence, or payment fraud in public transport nationwide in 2025, down 2 percent from 2024 and 22 percent from 2016 — the lowest level in a decade, including the pandemic years.
A Brazilian tourist was subjected to a vicious sexual assault on a French train on Wednesday morning, and only escaped being raped thanks to the intervention of a brave woman who filmed the assailant to scare him off.
Theft without violence still accounts for 77 percent of those victims. Thefts and payment frauds fell but recorded physical and sexual violence rose slightly, jumping 3 percent. Drug-use and trafficking suspects in transport rose another 5 percent after the sharp Olympic-year jump in 2024.
It should be noted that among the “French” perpetrators, their potential migration background is not recorded. There are approximately 10 million people in France with a foreign background, including second-generation citizens with a migration background. As a result, a French citizen who is an ethnic Algerian, for instance, would be recorded as a French perpetrator in all crime statistics. France does not keep data on the race of crime suspects, as required by national law.
More broadly speaking, there are estimates that foreigners and French citizens with a migration background account for two out of three crimes in France.
This public awareness campaign in France shows a White man as the harasser on a bus.
French interior ministry stats from recent years have shown that 69% of violent crimes, including sexual assaults and harassment, on public transport in the greater Paris region were… pic.twitter.com/H3fRwEWtK2
Introduzione al Contesto Politico e Istituzionale L’ordinamento politico e istituzionale italiano è storicamente caratterizzato da una peculiare, e per certi versi endemica, instabilità delle proprie leggi elettorali. A differenza di ...
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced that the United Kingdom will join France and Canada in blocking imports of products from Israeli settlements in the West Bank in defense of a two-state solution to the conflict in the Gaza region.
The Details: Miliband said, "Our argument is not with the people of Israel, with whom the U.K. has unshakeable bonds; our argument is with the conduct of its government." He told members of Parliament, "The British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists." NPR (Lean Left bias) noted that "measures announced today are understood to be limited but symbolically significant," with the government expected to target goods specifically originating from the Israeli settlements rather than Israeli products as a whole.
For Context: The UK made this announcement in conjunction with Canada and France, joining Ireland, Spain, Norway, and others, who have also taken steps to restrict trade on goods produced in the West Bank. The countries released a statement together that said, "Together, we are resolute: the two-state solution must be protected, and we will take action in pursuit of a just and lasting peace." Reuters (Center) reported that Israel's government "is financing some of the West Bank's most radical settlers, who use illegal outpost farms to displace Palestinians."
Response in the US: Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, called the move "irrational" and told BBC (Center), "I don't understand what it's supposed to achieve. If the U.K. is really interested in dealing with issues they feel like are wrong, where are the sanctions against North Korea, China, and Russia?"
How the Media Covered It: Both Reuters and NPR highlighted the symbolic nature of the trade ban, as products from the West Bank represent a very small portion of Israel's exports. Both outlets mentioned the criticism from Huckabee but focused largely on statements from participating countries about the importance of peace in the region and a two-state solution that recognizes Palestine. Fox News (Right) noted that the UK's decision could "create an early point of friction" between President Donald Trump and the UK's new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, as Trump has strongly backed Israel. Fox also included a social media post from Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, which translates to "We will not be a doormat for an antisemitic government in a country occupied by radical Islam that is trying to escape economic and social collapse by attacking Jews and the State of Israel. The British Mandate in Israel is over."
After Canadian tariffs took effect on roughly $20 billion of US goods on Tuesday, President Trump has issued an import ban on Canadian dairy products, large motorcycles, and alcoholic beverages, and a 50% tariff on additional goods.
The Details: The new tariffs will take effect on September 15, and the import bans will take effect on September 29.
Trade Context: After tensions escalated earlier this year between the two countries, in July, the Trump administration announced a 50% tariff on $20 billion worth of various Canadian imports set for August 19th, arguing that the US experienced "trade discrimination" from Canada. Then in August, right before the deadline, the two countries almost reached a deal, but it ultimately fell through, prompting Canada to go ahead with its retaliatory tariffs. Most recently, President Trump has stirred controversy with Canada by signing an executive order to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America.
US Position: US trade ambassador Jamieson Greer said, "After weeks of good faith and intensive efforts between U.S. and Canadian negotiators, Canada walked away from a near-final trade deal that offered better treatment than any other trading partner, and instead Canada chose to embark on senseless retaliation against the United States. Today's action… is a natural consequence of Canada's continued discriminatory treatment of crucial American... President Trump will continue to leverage the tools at his disposal to defend the interests of American workers and exporters, and restore reciprocity in our bilateral trade relationships."
CAN Position: Canada-US Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Canada is "assessing" Trump's latest move and that Canada's "first priority remains on protecting and supporting Canadian workers, farmers, families, and businesses from these unjustified actions." He added that he is "in contact with Ambassador Greer" and that "when the United States is ready to engage in dialogue, our government will work in good faith and constructively toward establishing safer and mutually beneficial trade relations that fully respect Canadian sovereignty."
How The Media Covered It: As has been the case with previous developments in the US-Canada trade saga, outlets from the left and center more prominently noted the depth of the US-Canada trade relationship and potential consequences, though outlets across the spectrum have noted concerns. Axios (Lean Left bias) concluded in its news coverage, "The two economies are so deeply intertwined that escalating trade tensions could run into political and economic limits." Fox Business (Lean Right)concluded, "Neither government has indicated when formal trade negotiations will resume, leaving uncertainty over whether the latest restrictions represent another negotiating tactic or a longer-term shift in North American trade relations." German state broadcaster DW News (Center) included a section that said with his recent maneuvers, President Trump has "pushed Ottawa to explore a deeper relationship with the European Union."
A US appellate court on Friday determined that the federal constitution doesn't guarantee a right to clean water.
The Details: In a 10-5 vote, the court concluded that there are no clearly established rights to clean drinking water and that public officials aren't required to provide accurate information about water quality under the 14th Amendment. The decision upholds a lower court's dismissal of a 2022 lawsuit from Jackson, Mississippi residents who claimed the contaminated water they were drinking violated their bodily integrity under the 14th Amendment's due process clause.
2022 Lawsuit: In 2022, several residents of Jackson, Mississippi sued over the quality and safety of the city's drinking water, arguing that the city falsely claimed the water was safe to drink despite it having high levels of lead and other contaminants. The lawsuit said that the water supply had been "neglected for decades" and argued that "access to clean, poison-free water is a fundamental human right."
How the Media Covered It:USA Today (Lean Left bias) quoted Judge Kurt Engelhardt, who wrote the majority opinion, saying the judges were "skeptical" that the Plaintiffs' argument "fits within the right to bodily integrity" and that there was no existing precedent to go off of. Mother Jones (Left) also quoted Engelhardt, but emphasized he was a Trump-appointed judge and framed him as a central figure behind the decision. The outlet wrote that the ruling comes as "the Trump administration moves to weaken clean-water-related protections." Reason (Center) said there might be an opportunity for the Supreme Court to review the case, however "it is difficult to see the [Court] being any more sympathetic" than the appellate court. AllSides didn't find coverage from the right.
“The Joint Forces have formed a command center south of the city of Mokha, following Houthi breakthroughs across various combat axes under heavy fire, in which the Houthis used various types of weapons,” Deputy Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), Lt. Gen. Tareq Saleh, said in his acknowledgment that his forces lost the port. The PLC was created in 2022 to represent the internationally recognized government of Yemen.
“The armed forces on the West Coast — the National Resistance, the Giants [Brigades], and the Homeland Shield — in addition to units of the Taiz axis west of the governorate, have paid a heavy price, martyrs and wounded, over the past days as they confronted the Houthi attack, which was planned by Iran, supported by it, and carried out with the participation of its various proxies/tools.”
“Thanks to God, our armed forces were able to repel an enemy combat formation a short time ago in the province of Taiz, forcing it to withdraw,” Houthi spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree proclaimed. “This was achieved by targeting it with a number of locally manufactured surface-to-air missiles.”
(Houthi Telegram channel)
Videos have emerged showing Houthi forces inside Mokha and its airport and a large amount of equipment being seized.
The people of the port city of Al-Mokha gave a warm reception to Yemeni armed forces fighters following the city's strategic liberation. pic.twitter.com/0XDrveJPxU
BREAKING: The Houthis have announced a Cessation of Combat Operations along the Coast of Bab al-Mandab Strait following the Collapse of Pro-Saudi Forces
The Core Military of the Houthis has entered the City of Mokha
Even before the capture of Mokha, the rebel group held the BAM under threat with its array of drones and missiles, some of which it launched from deeper in Yemen. In fact, the group became the first to fire anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBM) at vessels during its campaign against Red Sea shipping.
Mokha, however, provides a potential new surveillance and launching point for the Houthis to deploy mines as well as aerial drones and uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) they can use to attack shipping. As we have reported previously, the rebel group pioneered the operational use of some of these weapons.
The Houthis “are determined to control the ports in order to use booby-trapped boats from areas close to shipping lanes,” Col. Abdul Basit Al-Baher, a Yemeni army officer and military analyst, told Arab News last month as the rebels were pushing closer to the port.
In addition to Mokha, the Houthis also reportedly captured two important islands that could also add to its control over shipping through the strait. However, TWZ cannot independently confirm this.
There are claims that the Houthis seized Perim Island, which sits right in the middle of the BAM. In 2021, satellite images we obtained showed completion of a new, approximately 6,150-foot-long runway on the island as well as hangars and other facilities. The installation was supposedly meant primarily to support drone operations and was built by the United Arab Emirates.
This strategically located island sits in the narrowest part of the BAM, less than two miles west of Yemen and about 13 miles east of Djibouti, giving the Houthis a commanding presence at the mouth of the Red Sea.
Zuqar Island, which was also reportedly captured, sits in the middle of the Red Sea about 80 miles north of Perim Island. In the custody of the Yemeni government since 1998, it was being “used by government forces to track shipping traffic, monitor movements by Houthi rebels and stop weapons smuggling in the Red Sea,” according to The National.
Last year, images emerged of construction of a runway on the island.
A closer look at the new 2.1 km runway on Yemen’s Jabal Zuqar Island in the southern Red Sea shows a small apron with one completed aircraft hangar and another likely under construction, plus a taxiway leading to two military emplacements, likely to shelter aircraft or UAVs. https://t.co/cnphe6yCeOpic.twitter.com/iOwr7C6I91
Zuqar Island sits about 7 km east of the northbound shipping lane in the Red Sea. Control over these two islands could allow the Houthis to mirror the pattern Iran established in the Strait of Hormuz by directing traffic to pass through a narrow passage between Qeshm and Larak islands.
The Iranian transit scheme for the Strait of Hormuz. (Iranian government)
The conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis grew out of a civil war in Yemen that erupted in 2014. It expanded a year later when a Saudi-led coalition joined forces with the government ousted by the Houthis and raged on until the parties reached a tenuous ceasefire in 2022. The Saudis held off on getting involved in the recent Red Sea conflict which saw the U.S. and coalition warships duking it out with the Houthis, and eventually led to a U.S.-led air campaign over Yemen. Tensions, however, reignited after that conflict ended when the Houthis joined the U.S.-Iran conflict on the side of their major supporter. In addition to the aforementioned blockade, the Houthis began striking Saudi refineries.
The Houthis already control the port of Hodeidah, about 100 miles to the north. Capturing Mokha and the two islands extends their reach even closer to the BAM.
“On average, 273 ships sailed through the chokepoint each week between 27 July and 23 August,” the organization reported. “The naval ban on Saudi Arabia came into effect on 20 July, and the weekly average in the run up date was 319. Still, traffic remains above volumes seen before the crisis in the Middle East Gulf that led to a flurry of activity in the Red Sea as Saudi oil was redirected to Yanbu.”
Saudi Arabia has increasingly sent oil to its port of Yanbu on the Red Sea. (Photo by Yasin Demirci/Anadolu via Getty Images) Anadolu
The biggest impact of the blockade, Lloyd’s List Intelligence notes, is that it is driving up the cost to deliver oil by forcing traffic north through the Suez Canal, “extending voyage times and tying up capacity. In the Middle East, rising use of Hormuz shuttle tankers and multiple STS transfers is creating delays and increasing vessel utilization. Combined, these rising inefficiencies have led to the third VLCC spot-rate spike since the beginning of the crisis in the Middle East Gulf.”
The Houthi strikes on Saudi’s oil infrastructure, including a Houthi missile and drone attack against the Saudi Aramco refinery at Jazan on the Red Sea earlier this week, add a further dilemma for Riyadh, making it harder to get its product to points of shipment.
Video of of the aftermath of those strikes, which you can see below, emerged on social media.
Following Houthi strikes, fires can be seen raging at the Jizan oil refinery in Saudi Arabia. pic.twitter.com/tAqOPlsmvS
All this is raising the specter of the U.S. having to get as involved as it did during the previous Houthi campaign against shipping that ended last September, which could pull resources away from Iranian-focused operations, if supporting such an operation is even possible at all at this point. The Navy, and other key elements of the U.S. military, is overstretched and worn down by continuous deployments for many months leading up to Venezuela and then Iran, and now six months after Operation Epic Fury.
U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf are under increasing pressure as tensions with Iran continue to simmer. On Tuesday, several U.S. Air Force jets were damaged in an Iranian missile barrage on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, according to CBS News. An A-10 Thunderbolt II close support jet lost a wing and about eight F-15E Strike Eagle multi-role fighters were slightly damaged and returned to service, the network noted.
There is also a report that Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said Iranian forces “blew the hell out of Bahrain” where the U.S. military has a number of key facilities, including the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet. The country has been the subject of frequent Iranian barrages since the U.S. and Israel first attacked on Feb. 28.
Cao’s assessment matches what we have seen and heard prior to his comments and raises anew the question of whether the U.S. will return to Bahrain and other bases in the region heavily attacked by Iran.
In an exclusive interview, Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao told me that Iranian forces "blew the hell out of Bahrain."
While open-source analyses have long indicated that the U.S. Fifth Fleet Headquarters at Naval Support Activity Bahrain sustained extensive damage in the early…
“At least three times in the past week, Iranian forces have launched missiles at American warships, including an aircraft carrier, taking direct aim at the U.S. Navy in a way it hasn’t done since the start of the war,” the newspaper noted. “The attempted strikes on warships have led to much closer calls than previous attempts, with Iran using maneuverable warheads, people familiar with the attacks said.”
Amid this activity, traffic through the Strait remains suppressed.
“Vessel transits via the Strait of Hormuz fell on Wednesday to seven from 12 the previous day, preliminary ship-tracking data showed on Thursday, with levels also below the 10-day average of 14,” Reuters reported. “Out of these seven ships, four vessels exited and three entered, according to the data.”
However, an exact figure is hard to come by. Some vessels could be sailing through the waterway with their transponders turned off and would not be counted toward the totals, the outlet added.
Vessels transit the Hormuz Strait off the coast of Iran’s southern port city of Bandar Abbas on September 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) ATTA KENARE
As it is, oil prices are skyrocketing. As of noon Thursday, the per barrel price of Brent Crude exceeded $107, the highest price since July when it fell to just over $77 per barrel, according to OilPrice.com.
It will take some time before we get a better picture of how the Houthi seizure of the port of Mokha, and possibly Perim and Zuqar islands, will affect the global economy due to rising oil prices, either through reduced supply, increased cost of delivery or some combination of the two. With no end in sight to the U.S. conflict with Iran that helped to drive these actions, the Yemeni rebel group has incentives to inflict economic pain wherever it can.
Di seguito riporto alcuni stralci tratti dall’intervento al Bundestag (il parlamento tedesco) di Alice Weidel, co-leader del partito di destra Alternativa per la Germania (AfD). Mi rifiuto di scrivere “di ...
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A Yemeni asylum seeker living in the Netherlands cannot rely on family reunification rules to bring over children from two additional marriages that Dutch law does not recognize, ruled the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The ECHR dismissed the migrant’s complaint on Tuesday, holding that Council of Europe states are not required to treat polygamous family arrangements as they would a monogamous household.
The man, 56, has three wives and 13 children from those unions. After arriving in the Netherlands in 2018 and receiving asylum, he was allowed to bring one wife and their eight children.
Dutch authorities refused entry to the five children born of his other two marriages, citing that “polygamy is prohibited in the Netherlands.”
He lost his challenges in the Dutch courts and then turned to Strasbourg, according to French newspaper Le Figaro. He argued the case was not about importing polygamy, because he was not seeking to bring the other two wives, only the remaining children. The court rejected the argument that the refusal violated his right to respect for family life.
If a European state “establishes an immigration policy that takes family ties into account,” it “cannot be obliged to recognize polygamous marriages that conflict with its own legal system,” the judges in Strasbourg ruled.
A tale of two Germanys
The first Germany represents illiterate Syrian migrant Ahmad A. and his 2 wives and 6 children. The entire family received free housing and welfare thanks to German taxpayers.
The court also noted that he could have divorced the two other wives, as Dutch authorities had proposed, but declined to do so.
Notably, the second wife is already in the Netherlands with her children after she received asylum in June 2025. However, the fact that she entered the Netherlands did not change the ruling, the ECHR stated.
“The fact that polygamy is prohibited in all member states of the Council of Europe shows that there is a strong European consensus on this issue,” the judges noted. Under those circumstances, “Member States have considerable discretion as to whether or not to grant fathers and children born of polygamy the right to family reunification.”
In France, an Ivorian polygamist has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for torture, rape, and for imposing a hard-line Islamic regime on his 4 wives and 29 children.
The 45-year-old Ivorian migrant, held in pretrial detention since 2022, was said to have stripped the home… pic.twitter.com/1NVsbWmJcl
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