Alternate link:

https://archive.ph/EAm9r

Imagine, he was happy to the point of tears that the war and bloodshed he wanted came to be:

“We’ve done it,” a cackling Graham said in his office in the early days of the war, according to footage obtained by The Wall Street Journal. “I almost cried. I mean, how long have we been pushing this?”

He also sheds light on Trump's joy for the destruction:

The South Carolina lawmaker, who died earlier this month after suffering an aortic dissection, said in the footage he spoke to Trump that morning.

“He’s jacked. He said, ‘Best thing I’ve ever done.’ He loves blowing stuff up,” said Graham, a military interventionist who has long advocated for military action against Iran.

But what has all that death and destruction amounted to?

On March 4, Graham also predicted that the Iranian regime would “start losing control of some cities” within three to four weeks, which did not occur.

Five Palestine Action activists face being sentenced as terrorists for breaking windows and throwing red paint at a branch of Barclays Bank in Lancashire.

Brendon O’Hagan, 28; Amanda Kelly, 31; Hmeera Atiqnisar, 31; Mohammed Malik, 28; and Alma Yaniv, 70, were found guilty of causing £212,000 of damage during a direct action protest in Burnley in August 2024. They targeted the bank because it held shares in the Israeli weapons firm Elbit Systems.

After last month’s verdicts the judge, Philip Parry, told the prosecution and the defence he intended to consider a “terrorist connection” to the offending, despite neither the jury nor the defendants having previously been informed of the possibility.

Four other Palestine Action activists last month became the first defendants convicted of property damage whose offending – during a raid on Elbit’s Filton factory near Bristol - was deemed by Mr Justice Johnson post-conviction to have a “terrorist connection”.

For more information, either visit the article directly or view the post with quotes in crimes_of_ice:

https://lemmy.4d2.org/post/4491364

- Infantino claims critics of World Cup ‘missed it all’

- He again defends Balogun affair and treatment of Iran

Gianni Infantino with Donald Trump at the World Cup final. ‘We experienced no violence, no incidents, 100% safety and security, only joy and happiness,’ said the Fifa president. Photograph: DiaEsportivo/Action Plus/Shutterstock

The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, has hit back at critics of the World Cup, accusing them of spreading hate and false narratives while defending the tournament ⁠as a success that celebrated ⁠unity, safety and inclusion.

In ​an open letter published on Monday, Infantino said detractors had overlooked the joy and togetherness experienced by millions of fans around the world who witnessed the tournament, ⁠won by Spain and staged in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

“You were so consumed by hate and criticism that you missed it all,” said the 56-year-old. “To those behind their pens and papers, behind ⁠their screens spreading hate and false rumours, I want to say that while you are sitting behind, we at Fifa are ​on the front lines organising, working hard, and delivering ‌the best show in the ‌world. We experienced no violence, no incidents, 100% safety and security, only joy and happiness.”

Fifa faced criticism about a number of issues ‌during the World Cup, including US visa restrictions affecting supporters and officials from several countries and concerns for teams from conflict-hit regions. Infantino’s letter followed scrutiny of Fifa’s suspension of an automatic one-match ban imposed on the US striker Folarin Balogun after the intervention of Donald Trump. Officiating decisions in Argentina’s last-16 victory over Egypt also received criticism, most strongly from the Egypt manager, Hossam Hassan.

“Potentially mistaken red or yellow cards or subsequent ​decisions not to ban players in certain situations are routine and widely accepted in some of the biggest leagues worldwide,” Infantino said in his letter. “It’s curious that the same countries employing these practices are the ones criticising.“

The Somali referee, Omar Artan, was barred from entering the US despite having a valid visa while the Iran team and staff were subject to difficult travel restrictions imposed on them by the US government as a consequence of the war between the two countries.

“Iran ​entered the United States without ‌incident or conflict. The ​Iranian team received visas ​to enter because football is about peace. It’s not about politics,” said Infantino. “Countries facing serious health issues or other challenges were granted visas.”

Continue Reading here - https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jul/27/gianni-infantino-hits-out-fifa-critics-hate-open-letter-world-cup

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10371689

Ukraine’s leading arms company is manufacturing about 100 long-range Flamingo cruise missiles a month, a rate able to support an enduring campaign of deep strike against targets hundreds of miles inside Russia.

Fire Point is also making FP-1 and FP-2 fixed-wing drones at a rate of “hundreds per day”, according to chief executive Iryna Terekh. Manufacturing at scale is restarting after a pause caused by the delay in signing off €90bn of EU lending to Ukraine.

The startup’s development from its postwar foundation in 2022 demonstrates the rapid maturing of Ukraine’s homegrown defence industry, finally giving its military the long-range capabilities denied by the west earlier in the conflict.

“I’m not aware of any deep strike attack that was happening in the past few months that was not involving our products,” Terekh said. Missile and drone attacks using Fire Point munitions were taking place at a daily rate of “on average five to 15”.

...

Fire Point now operates from 83 factories inside Ukraine, plus another in Denmark, employing 6,000 people, up from 3,500 late last year, according to Terekh. The Guardian visited one manufacturing site last December, where dozens of men were assembling the plywood, plastic and carbon fibre structures into whole drones.

“What we’re seeing now is the result of several years of effort by the Ukrainian side,” said Ben Hodges, a former general who commanded the US army in Europe. “They can not only reach deep inside Russia with precision and get past Russian air defences, their weapons also carry a payload big enough to achieve effect.”

...

Terekh, who studied architecture before joining Fire Point in the summer of 2023, when it employed 18 people, said the company is an example of how the Russian invasion has urgently forced Ukraine – once at the heart of Soviet industry – to modernise and regenerate itself.

“Ukraine, in a postwar economy, will need to be an exporter of things with a high additional added value. We do not want to be like a breadbasket any more for the world,” said Terekh, referring to Ukraine’s historical strength in agriculture. For now, however, the demands of the war mean Fire Point’s weapons are not exported.

Archived

The US Embassy in Dublin has responded after the Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill was signed into law in Ireland on Thursday, July 23.

"The Israeli Settlements Bill risks real unintended consequences, particularly for nearly 1,000 U.S. companies and the hundreds of thousands of Irish jobs tied to them," the US Embassy in Ireland said on Friday.

"If the goal is to make a meaningful difference for Palestinians, the focus should be on coordinated international efforts that deliver real impact, not symbolic measures that harm Ireland’s economy and will not advance peace.

"We urge Ireland to avoid pushing similarly unhelpful initiatives at the EU-level."

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10371109

Russia is likely assisting China in training its military personnel, as well as providing Beijing with intelligence and advanced military technology, which could give China an advantage in the event of a potential conflict over Taiwan, according to a report by the Economist (archived).

...

since 2024, Chinese military personnel have been undergoing training in the use of drones and urban warfare at a Russian military training ground near Volgograd. This facility is regularly used by the Russian Federation’s 8th Army, which is one of Moscow’s key forces in the war against Ukraine on the eastern front.

For China, such cooperation helps compensate for its lack of modern combat experience. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army has not participated in major armed conflicts since the brief border war with Vietnam in 1979, so Beijing is seeking to gain practical knowledge of modern methods of warfare.

...

China has also gained broader access to Russian military technologies that the Kremlin had previously been reluctant to share. U.S. and European officials speculate that this involves, in particular, the development of Chinese air defense and missile defense systems, as well as assistance in building low-noise nuclear submarines.

...

China is particularly interested in Russia’s experience in the Black Sea, where Moscow is countering Ukrainian maritime drones.

The West is also closely monitoring the two countries’ cooperation in the field of underwater technology. The head of U.S. Naval Intelligence, Rear Admiral Michael Brooks, stated that by 2035, China could have about 80 submarines, half of which will be nuclear-powered. According to him, new models may feature improvements in reactor design, sensor performance, weapons integration, and noise-reduction technologies.

...

Archived

“The U.S. welcomes the decision by interim President Delcy Rodriguez and Venezuela to withdraw from the ICC,” it said in a post on US social media company X.

It also praised the new Venezuelan government’s cooperation with Washington’s efforts to “dismantle” the Hague-based court.

The agency accused the ICC of failing to produce results from its investigation into former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro while directing resources toward countries with “competent, independent judicial systems” that had not accepted the court’s jurisdiction.

“This is blatant overreach, political bias and selective enforcement,” it said, describing the court as neither credible nor legitimate.

The agency said Maduro is facing justice before a US court for crimes he allegedly committed, crediting President Donald Trump and US service members.

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/68621453

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/67244

Beijing student Lulu Lu was just preparing for bed when she was startled by loud banging at her door. When she opened the door, a man pushed his way inside, shone a flashlight in her face and shouted: “Get down. Give me your phone.” Lu froze. Moments later, she came to her senses and did as she was told, burying her face in the mattress and raising her hands above her head. The intruder blindfolded Lu, tied her hands and finally made her record a phone message for her parents – begging them to...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

The suspect in the deadly Berlin Pride attack that left one person dead and 29 injured was shot and killed by police during a confrontation on Sunday in a suburb of the city, authorities said.

Abdul Ballout, a German citizen with Lebanese roots, was killed following a search that lasted nearly 24 hours after the attack in downtown Berlin. Prosecutors said he had previously sought to join the militant Islamic State group.

Ballout was suspected of driving a van into a crowd near Berlin’s Pride festival Saturday night before apparently stabbing others with a machete in what authorities believe was an Islamic extremist terror attack.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the attack occurred a few hundred meters (yards) from a party near the Brandenburg Gate that was supposed to close out the city’s Pride festival.

Ballout was tracked down around 6 p.m. Sunday at a garden in Spandau, a Berlin suburb, the city’s police department wrote on X. They said he apparently ran toward officers with a sharp instrument, and police fired at least one shot. He died at the scene.

Ballout was born in Germany, the minister said. His mother was naturalized in 2002, three years before he was born.

Venezuelan men sent last year to a notorious Salvadorian terrorism prison by the Trump administration are suing the US aviation companies that transported them there.

A lawsuit filed this week in federal court in Washington DC accuses the companies CSI Aviation and GlobalX of violating the Venezuelans’ civil rights, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence and other violations, for their role in flying the three planes that took the men to El Salvador.

CSI and GlobalX “went to great lengths” to undertake the “rendition flights” to El Salvador, “in concert with the US government, in flagrant violation of US and international law”, the lawsuit reads.

Last year, in March, the Trump administration expelled more than 230 Venezuelan men held in US immigration custody to El Salvador, where they were detained for four months in a maximum security terrorism prison and tortured.

The protest marked five years since President Kais Saied Saied suspended parliament and later dissolved it in order to rule by decree.

"According to documents obtained by the Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun, in addition to the names and biographies of the university professors surveyed, "emotions toward Japan," "emotions toward the Self-Defense Forces," and "ideas and beliefs" were compiled in detail in a report called "Personal BSD (Basic Source Data)," and at least several thousand people were stored within the Asaka Garrison It appears to be shared. One former member said, "We have not given consent to the target group." He testified that the purpose and legal basis for the activities had never been demonstrated within the unit.""

"The Ministry of Defense said, "We are not aware of the collection of personal information of citizens that is the basis for (Kumabi's) interviews. "It will take time to verify the facts, but we would like to take some kind of action," he said."

Another "democracy" that's closer to being like an authoritarian hellhole than the countries they criticize.