Author: M Barbu

Israeli Islam Isn’t a Contradiction, but It Isn’t Easy

The surprising and evolving intersections between the Jewish state and Islamic institutions.

Introduction

The term “Israeli Islam” may sound like an oxymoron, but Islam is present in Israeli society—and inside the Israeli state. Just under one-fifth of Israelis are registered by the state as Muslims; Muhammad has been the most common name for Israeli babies for years. And a series of state structures oversees, supports, administers, monitors, and polices Islamic practices and institutions in the country.

America Isn’t Ready for the Wars of the Future

And They’re Already Here

On the battlefields of Ukraine, the future of war is quickly becoming its present. Thousands of drones fill the skies. These drones and their operators are using artificial intelligence systems to avoid obstacles and identify potential targets. AI models are also helping Ukraine predict where to strike. Thanks to these systems, Ukrainian soldiers are taking out tanks and downing planes with devastating effectiveness. Russian units find themselves under constant observation, and their communications lines are prone to enemy disruption—as are Ukraine’s. Both states are racing to develop even more advanced technologies that can counter relentless attacks and overcome their adversary’s defenses.

Ismail Haniyeh: assassinated in Israel’s war on peace and quest for endless occupation

In a brazen act that has sent shockwaves across the Middle East, Ismail Haniyeh, the exiled political chief of Hamas, was assassinated on Wednesday in Tehran. The 62-year-old Palestinian leader was killed during a visit to Iran to attend the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian. Haniyeh, a key figure in ongoing ceasefire negotiations and hostage release talks, was staying at a guesthouse affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps when the fatal attack occurred.

Safe houses. The head of FSB counterintelligence, responsible for the arrest of Gershkovich, turned out to be an underground rentier with a billion-dollar fortune

FSB Lieutenant General Vladislav Menshchikov heads the FSB’s First Service (counterintelligence), which cannot boast of a large number of spies caught, but has recently found itself at the center of scandals due to the fact that it arrests foreign journalists under the guise of spies to replenish the exchange fund (it is the First Service that is behind the criminal prosecution of The Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich). As The Insider has found out, the high-ranking security officer is involved in corruption schemes around a Russian defense company, and registers expensive property and business in the names of his relatives.

Russia exchanged political prisoners for spies. Among those released: Kara-Murza, Gershkovich, Yashin, Kurmasheva, Skochilenko, Chanysheva and others

Russia has conducted a prisoner exchange with the United States and Germany. According to The Insider, political prisoners Ilya Yashin, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Alsu Kurmasheva, Andrei Pivovarov, Oleg Orlov, Alexandra Skochilenko, Liliya Chanysheva, Ksenia Fadeeva, Evan Gershkovich, Rico Krieger, Kevin Leake, Demuri Voronin, Vadim Ostanin, Patrick Schoebel, Paul Whelan and Herman Moyzhes have been released. In exchange, Russia received FSB killer Vadim Krasikov, spies and swindlers.

Interpreting Iran’s Continued Opposition To The Zangezur Corridor

This policy is self-serving and justified on false pretexts, but it’s Iran’s sovereign right to promulgate in advance of what its leadership regards as their national interests.

The Iranian Supreme Leader tweeted last week that “The Islamic Republic of Iran believes the #Zangezur corridor is to the detriment of Armenia, and we reaffirm our steadfast position on this matter.” This followed his meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan on Tuesday, who was in Tehran to attend President Pezeshkian’s inauguration, as well as recent reports that those two countries secretly signed a $500 million arms deal earlier this year for drones and air defenses.

Looming War Between NATO Allies: Greece and Turkey

NASA satellite photo of the Greek islands in the Aegean Sea. The islands Karpathos and Kassos, where on July 25, 2024, Turkey and Greece came very close to fighting a war, are located between the large islands of Crete, lower left, and Rhodes, lower right, in Southeastern Aegean. Karpathos is the larger of the two islands.

The relations between Turkey and Greece have never been normal. The legacy of Mongol Turkish conquest of Greece in the fifteenth century poisons all connections between Turks and Greeks. The Greeks remember their Turkish oppressors like other barbarians who invaded their country. They fought hard and long to free themselves from the tyranny of the Turks. Moslem Turks, however, remember they live on land they stole from the Greeks. They also remember their empire in Southeastern Europe and the Middle East and want to recreate it.

Orban’s Insight Into The Global Systemic Transition & Hungarian Grand Strategy Is Worth Reading

He said that the Ukrainian Conflict was a “red pill” for him and elaborated on the ten ways in which it opened his eyes to reality.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban elaborated on the global systemic transition and his country’s grand strategy within it during a lengthy speech at the Balvanyos Free Summer University and Student Camp over the weekend. The over 11,000-word English transcript was published on Monday, which the present piece will summarize for the reader’s convenience. It began with him reaffirming that it’s his Christian duty to promote peace and mocking the EU for its Orwellian “war is peace” mantra.

Europe’s Recipe for Disaster: The Von der Leyen Program

[T]his reduction [of greenhouse gas emissions] structures and determines the whole of the Commission’s program, because all human activity — industrial, commercial and private — emits greenhouse gases. In fact, in a program document published by the Commission in February 2024, already under the aegis of von der Leyen, are plans to invest 1.5 trillion euros per year in decarbonizing the European Union, and to this end take authoritarian measures in all areas of human activity. The amount is equivalent to 10% of Europe’s GDP — every year. Apparently this policy is the uncompromising model found in every party in Germany, but apart from a war effort, there is no objective of any kind that has ever required the diversion of 10% of a continent’s GDP by political decree.

The Global Backlash Against Globalization

A mushroom-shaped cloud and water column from the underwater Baker nuclear explosion off the Marshall Islands, July 25, 1946. (Pictures from History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

They were all buddy-buddy for the cameras, going for a joy ride in a deluxe limo and toasting each other at a gala dinner. In June, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was determined to welcome Russian President Vladimir Putin in grand style on his first visit to Pyongyang in 24 years. A red carpet, flowers, and champagne: it was a veritable romance of rogues.