State of Play

Gaza Aid or Cover for War? US Mercenaries Accused of Firing on Civilians

Greg Stoker

A new investigation by the Associated Press has uncovered disturbing details about American military contractors operating in Gaza under the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a U.S.-based group tasked with distributing aid. Video footage and eyewitness testimony suggest these contractors-many of them former U.S.

Jacopo Brogi

L'immenso Luna Park per super ricchi preso in leasing, chiamato "Italia", ha visto un ultimo fine settimana di bagordi di alto lignaggio: il matrimonio - evento fra il fondatore e patron di Amazon Jeff Bezos e la giornalista Lauren Sanchez nell'isola di San Giorgio, a Venezia, è l'immagine plastica dello sfoggio dell'oligarchia sulla plebe 4.0.

Un tempo erano i re, gli imperatori.

By Tim Hartnett

July 4, 2025

"Society has failed you," Mammy Yoakum once told a spoiled brat, "but I won't." The Dogpatch matriarch then proceeds to wail tar out of the little hellion. Li'l Abner was syndicated in about 1000 newspapers before its last strip ran in 1977. The cartoon's demise long preceded the time 'too big to fail' came into common circulation. Chrysler's bailout arrived roughly two years after Mammy's voice was forever extinguished.

By Doug Casey

International Man

July 4, 2025

International Man: As the US approaches its 250th anniversary, how would you compare the personal and economic freedoms Americans have today with those envisioned by the Founding Fathers in 1776?

Doug Casey: The US has had a good, long run as a beacon of freedom for the entire world, but nothing lasts forever. Things started changing radically with the War Between the States, and the ascendancy of progressives like Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.

By Mike Whitney
The Unz Review

July 4, 2025

If Iran resumes enrichment while rejecting IAEA inspections, then Trump will target Iran's underground facilities with a low-yield B61-11 nuclear weapon

You can usually tell which side won a war by simply observing 'what happens' after the hostilities end. Following the announcement of a ceasefire between Iran and Israel, millions of Iranians poured onto the streets of Tehran, chanting patriotic songs and waving flags in a spontaneous display of jubilation.

By Charles Hugh Smith

OfTwoMinds.com

July 4, 2025

"Healthcare" grift, graft, fraud and financialized skims / scams will bankrupt the nation.

I've been writing about America's healthcare system for 18 years, emphasizing two enduring themes: 1) our lifestyle is unhealthy, with predictable consequences and 2) healthcare as it is currently configured will bankrupt the nation all by itself.

This recent article on how having a baby without complications now costs over $44,000 adds a third theme: the tragi-comic insanity and absurdity of the "healthcare" system that has been normalized, as if this is the only possible way to organize healthcare:

By Jacob G. Hornberger

The Future of Freedom Foundation

July 4, 2025

Yesterday, I wrote about the decades-long obsession that the U.S. national-security establishment - i.e., the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA - has had with Cuba. Long ago, as part of their Cold War against the Reds, U.S. national-security state officials convinced themselves that Cuba's communist regime posed a grave threat to U.S.

By Pepe Escobar
The Cradle

July 4, 2025

The defense ministers of all 10 members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) met last week in Qingdao, in China's Shandong Province.

That, in itself, is the stuff drama is made of. Not only because it was a warm-up for the main SCO annual summit later this year in Tianjin with heads of state. But mostly because on the same table we had top BRICS members Russia, China, India and Iran, plus Pakistan; an Indian defense minister visiting China for the first time in five years and facing his Pakistani counterpart after their latest serious exchange of fire; and the Iranian minister closely consulting with Beijing immediately after the Israel-Iran ceasefire kabuki orchestrated by POTUS.

By Paul Craig Roberts

July 4, 2025

Today we will be treated to fireworks and speeches celebrating our liberation from the British in the latter part of the 18th century. It is a false celebration, because many of our cherished freedoms described in the Constitution have been taken away, and in place of the British we have a new master-Israel-a master whose grip tightens on us by the year.

In the 21st century we have destroyed a number of countries for Israel, financed and provided the weapons and diplomatic over for Israel's genocide of Palestine, and celebrated Israel's indicted mass murderer leader with standing ovations in the US Congress.

Par Robert Inlakesh

Comme cela a toujours été le cas, la Palestine est le test décisif, et Damas, jusqu'à présent, a échoué de manière spectaculaire.

Les médias israéliens rapportent ces jours-ci que des discussions avancées sont en cours entre les dirigeants de Damas et de Tel-Aviv en vue de parvenir à un accord de normalisation, qui, selon l'administration Trump, pourrait également s'étendre à d'autres pays arabes.

Les forces israéliennes ont intensifié leurs attaques directes et délibérées contre les civils palestiniens, visant de plus en plus les abris et les tentes des personnes déplacées. Cette escalade reflète une politique claire visant à poursuivre le crime de génocide dans la bande de Gaza, alors que la communauté internationale reste silencieuse, ce qui est juridiquement et moralement injustifiable.