WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States scrapped the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty five years ago with the aim of expanding NATO further eastward, pressing Russia economically and militarily, and cementing America's global hegemony, veteran Pentagon analyst and retired US Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski told Sputnik.
August 2 marks the fifth anniversary of the US's formal withdrawal from the INF Treaty.
"This [the pullout from the treaty] was due to the US desire (led by neoconservatives in the State Department and elsewhere in the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations) to expand NATO eastward, as well to engage militarily on Russia's European border with both conventional and nuclear arms, specifically via Ukraine," Kwiatkowski said.
The military and economic rise of China, a neoconservative theme for the past 30 years, required in the eyes of hawkish US military planners a nuclear offensive line in Eastern Europe to hold Russia "captive," Kwiatkowski explained.....more below
The US House Oversight Committee has published roughly 20,000 pages of documents from the sex offender’s estate
US Democrats have released an email in which convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein claimed that President Donald Trump was aware of women procured for sex trafficking.
The email is part of some 20,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate published by the US House Oversight Committee on Wednesday. The documents include correspondence between Epstein and his close associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking and related offenses.
In a 2011 email, Epstein wrote to Maxwell that a victim, whose name was redacted, “spent hours at my house with him,” referring to Trump. In a 2019 email to journalist Michael Wolff, Epstein said Trump “knew about the girls as he asked (Ghislaine) to stop.”
The documents show Epstein referenced Trump multiple times, calling him “borderline insane,” a “maniac,” and “f**king ...
US President Donald Trump has called on Israel’s president to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a move widely seen as political meddling in favor of an embattled ally, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Israel’s presidential office released a statement on Wednesday, confirming that Trump sent a letter to President Isaac Herzog urging him to dismiss Netanyahu’s legal case.
“I hereby call on you to fully pardon Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been a formidable and decisive War Time Prime Minister,” Trump wrote on social media.
Trump praised Netanyahu’s aggressive policies towards Iran as commendable, framing them as a justification for dismissing the corruption charges.
“While I absolutely respect the independence of the Israeli Justice System, and its requirements, I believe that this ‘case’ against Bibi, who has fought alongside me for a long time, including......more below
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Dozens of Israeli settlers have launched a wide-scale attack on industrial and agricultural facilities in the northeastern sector of the West Bank, sparking major fires and injuring several Palestinians amid a surge of settler violence in the occupied territory.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA, citing local sources, reported that settlers set fire to multiple vehicles, including four trucks belonging to a dairy factory in al-Lada’in industrial zone near the town of Beit Lid east of Tulkarm, and caused damage to the facility itself.
Settlers also destroyed nearby farmland, metal sheds, and tents used by a small Bedouin community living in the area.
Videos posted online show smoke engulfing the area, with Palestinian women heard shouting in the background, and men carrying extinguishers and water buckets scrambling to put out the fires.
Footage shows torched trucks, tents, and metal sheds, and smashed car windows......more below
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