A vast US war fleet deployed in the south Caribbean — ostensibly to fight drug-trafficking but widely seen as a push for violent regime change — has sparked international condemnation and bipartisan resistance in the US itself. FRANCISCO DOMINGUEZ reports
On Israel’s other war
The war in Gaza is being used as the perfect smokescreen to finalise old colonial plans in the West Bank, argues RAMZY BAROUD
PROMISES of “absolute victory” in Gaza are nothing but “gibberish,” according to Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. Gallant’s comments were not meant to be public, but somehow were leaked and published by Israeli media on August 12.
The explanation of why Benjamin Netanyahu is pursuing a losing war in Gaza has been largely confined to the prime minister’s personal interests: avoiding the outcome of his corruption trials, preserving his extremist government coalition and avoiding early elections.
Still, none of these rationales explain the absurdity of continuing with a war which, in the words of former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, is “the worst failure in Israel’s history.”
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Will 2025 be a year of combat for Israel, as promised by the new IDF chief of staff, wonders RAMZY BAROUD
Unlike previous military campaigns in Gaza, there is no significant strand of Israeli society claiming victory, and a political crisis long-brewing has now reached crisis point, argues RAMZY BAROUD
The Israeli PM has won political favour by repeatedly playing the victim card – but when the war on Gaza ends this kind of manoeuvring will no longer suffice in order to maintain his coalition, says RAMZY BAROUD
RAMZY BAROUD explains that with the world already unable or unwilling to confront Israel’s murderous devastation of Gaza, it is likely to seize the opportunity to annex the larger but equally vulnerable West Bank territory



