For a quarter century the United States has told the world, and itself, a simple story about its role in the Middle East. On September 11, 2001, it was attacked by Sunni jihadists, and it answered with a generational war against Sunni Islamic extremism — al-Qaeda first, the Islamic State later. Trillions of dollars, two invasions, a global drone and surveillance apparatus, and a lengthening list of designated terrorist organizations were all justified by that threat. This was the declared war, and it was real in its public form.

Feeding the Enemy: How Washington’s Obsession With Iran Subverted Its Own War on Sunni Terror

by Larry C. Johnson

Poland started to construct a defensive barrier along its border with Russia and Belarus in 2024. The East Shield defense system will eventually be around 800 kilometers long, and is intended to protect this country on NATO's eastern flank against attack from the east.

Jeffrey Sachs delivers a blistering assessment of Donald Trump, arguing that the president’s leadership and use of power raise serious concerns about the state of American politics.

Sachs describes Trump in deeply critical terms and argues that the larger problem goes beyond one individual. He says Trump is also a symptom of what he calls a deeply corrupted political system, pointing to presidential war powers, Congress, checks and balances, and America’s long-running foreign policy.

Sachs also sharply criticizes media coverage of Trump, questioning what he sees as the normalization of increasingly extreme rhetoric and decisions. He challenges journalists and political leaders to ask harder questions about presidential power, accountability and the consequences of America’s foreign policy.

HERE WE GO AGAIN. HERE IS A BAD PROPAGANDA PEACE BY CNN AND ZAREED [FAREED ZAKARIA]... WE HOPED THAT ZAREED WAS MORE INTELLIGENT THAN AN ORDINARY WANKER BUT WE FAILED IN THIS ASSESSMENT... "ZAREED" OF COURSE DOES NOT EVEN MENTION PROPERLY THE PEACE TREATY IN ISTAMBUL THAT BORIS JOHNSON SCUTTLED...

THIS PEACE AGREEMENT WAS DESIGNED TO RESTORE THE MINSK AGREEMENTS OF 2014 AND 2015, WHICH GAVE THE DONBASS TO UKRAINE IN AN AUTONOMOUS FORMAT, AND WERE SIGNED UPON BY GERMANY, FRANCE, RUSSIA AND UKRAINE — AND CONFIRMED BY THE UNITED NATIONS. BUT AS USUAL, THE WEST — ESPECIALLY GERMANY AND FRANCE — HAD BEEN DECEPTIVE... MERKEL AND HOLLANDE ADMITTED TO IT. 

AND YES PUTIN HAD TO CONTROL SOME DISSENT IN RUSSIA... WHO DOES NOT TRY TO PREVENT DISSENT — ESPECIALLY WHEN FOMENTED BY THE CIA AND MI6? OR EVEN PURE GREED OF THE OLIGARCHS?

A confronting display can be reconsidered. Removing a documented critique of the war on Gaza from a public library collection would be another matter entirely.

Sydney’s Waverley Council, which includes Bondi Beach within its boundaries, has removed a book on the war on Gaza, titled How to Sell a Genocide, from its library shelves, pending review. This followed a complaint from a survivor of last year’s Bondi Beach massacre.

The Israeli military has announced it will open criminal investigations into two high-profile attacks on Palestinians during the Gaza war.

In a report published Wednesday, the Israeli military said it had reviewed 150 incidents involving its troops in the Palestinian enclave and had made decisions about five of the cases.

Israeli military to open criminal probes into 2 Gaza attacks

Natalie Muller Reuters, AFP and AP

The investigations will focus on the killings of 5-year-old Palestinian girl Hind ⁠Rajab and 15 emergency aid workers in Gaza. The decision came after a review of 150 incidents concerning the conduct of Israeli troops.

Duncan Chapel — a member of the British section of the Pabloite international network and a regular contributor to International Viewpoint and Anticapitalist Resistance — has published a libel against imprisoned Ukrainian anti-war socialist Bogdan Syrotiuk.

His aim is to sabotage the growing international opposition to Bogdan’s persecution by the Zelensky regime, injecting poisonous misinformation and lies into the public discussion of the case. 

A case of political sabotage: Duncan Chapel’s filthy provocation against imprisoned Ukrainian socialist Bogdan Syrotiuk

BY WSWS International Editorial Board

He is acting as a political provocateur, whose actions serve the interests of the fascistic Ukrainian regime and NATO.

As the deadly Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon continues, the fabulously wealthy banker-turned-“philanthropist” Antoun Sehnaoui has assembled a network of business and media operatives in Washington – and a fascist Christian goon squad in Beirut – dedicated to doing Israel’s dirty work.

In late July, Lebanese daily L’Orient Today exposed a wealthy banking heir named Antoun Sehnaoui as a driving force behind recent efforts to push the country to normalize relations with Israel as the apartheid state continues to occupy hundreds of square miles of southern Lebanon.

After yet another heatwave and an unprecedented summer drought, farmers are struggling. Scorched by the exceptional heat, fruits and vegetables are rotting in the fields. Some livestock farmers are having to start reducing their herds, driven to desperation by their inability to feed them all.

Faced with the disastrous consequences of the climate crisis on agriculture, and under pressure from farmers' unions, *Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu was forced to address producers, some of whom are demanding emergency aid. In an open letter published in the regional press on August 15, the Prime Minister assured them that "no farmer will be left behind."

A fresh wave of US tariffs on a wide array of Canadian goods has come into effect as of midnight on Saturday after a last minute break down in trade talks.

Announcing the suspension of negotiations shortly before the Friday night deadline, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he would impose reciprocal tariffs on US goods "dollar for dollar".

Carney said "last-minute changes in the US proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal".

Pete Hegseth married his former Fox News colleague and third wife, Jennifer Rauchet, in 2019.

The two first connected while they were both employed by the news station. At the time, they were both married to other people: Hegseth to Samantha Deering, with whom he shares three sons, and Rauchet to her former husband. Rauchet is also a mother of three from previous relationships.

Across much of the world, attitudes towards China are improving as views of the United States deteriorate, with trust in American leadership, reliability and respect for freedoms all taking a hit.

Donald Trump has achieved something remarkable. According to a July Pew Research report, most of the 36 countries surveyed found that more people have a favourable view of China than the US.

Noel Turnbull

Natalie Harp has long been one of President Donald Trump's closest aides, but a pointed comment from Sen. Jon Ossoff has put her into the national spotlight.

During a rally in Atlanta on Aug. 16, the Georgia Democrat accused Trump of wanting to "travel with Natalie" instead of focusing on his duties, reigniting questions about the aide's influence and unusually close proximity to the president.

The Kremlin has condemned Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s apparent support for the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage and his opposition to prosecuting the alleged perpetrators.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to Tusk’s claim that those behind the September 2022 blasts should not be ashamed and that those who built the pipelines should be. Nord Stream was designed to carry Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea.

“If Mr. Tusk supports and endorses such acts of terrorism, it can only provoke astonishment and incomprehension,” Peskov told reporters on Friday, describing the blasts as “an act of terrorist sabotage against Europe’s critical energy infrastructure.”