Jay In The Boondocks

Black Panthers go into Rural White America to organize with them #ClassWarfae

Two Russian tankers carrying hundreds of thousands of barrels-worth of oil are heading to Cuba in defiance of Washington's energy blockade against the island nation. According to multiple reports and tanker-tracking data, the Sea Horse and the Anatoly Kolodkin are heading to Cuba with 930,000 barrels of gas and oil combined. The Anatoly Kolodkin, owned by Russian state shipping firm Sovcomflot, is set to unload at Matanzas Oil Terminal north of Cuba on 23 March, according to Kpler. Russia’s Foreign Ministry stated on 18 March that it was ready to “provide Cuba with the necessary support, including material support.” Cuba has been under a trade embargo for over 60 years, starting after the Cuban revolution and the overthrow of the US-backed Batista dictatorship. US President Donald Trump has recently tightened this siege to starve the nation of energy imports. At the start of the year, he signed an executive order threatening tariffs on countries assisting Cuba. Due to the US blockade, the island has been facing a severe energy crisis, with constant blackouts and fuel shortages. It also faces an exacerbated food security crisis and increasing poverty. Cuba experienced a total power outage this week. Millions of Cubans were without electricity for around 30 hours after the power grid collapsed. Most parts of the country were reconnected as of 19 March, but authorities warned that severe fuel shortages continued to pose a serious threat to electricity generation. “You know, all my life I’ve been hearing about the United States and Cuba. When will the United States do it? I do believe I’ll be … having the honor of taking Cuba. Whether I free it, take it – think I could do anything I want with it. You want to know the truth. They’re a very weakened nation right now,” Trump said on Monday as the outages hit Cuba. According to a New York Times (NYT) report, US officials have told Cuba to remove its president from power. Since the blockade began, Russia has repeatedly vowed to assist Cuba and provide it with energy. On Thursday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also declared her country is working to resume fuel shipments to the Caribbean nation. thecradle.co/articles/russi…

Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez tapped Gustavo González López as the country’s new defense minister on Wednesday, replacing Vladimir Padrino López after more than a decade in the post. Padrino’s removal follows the January 3 US military strikes against Venezuela that saw special forces kidnap Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores. Despite months of defense exercises in the face of escalating US threats, Venezuelan forces, particularly air defenses, were quickly neutralized by US bombing and electromagnetic warfare on January 3. The Venezuelan armed forces have yet to offer a complete account of the operation, including a definitive list of casualties that are said to surpass 100. Padrino condemned the US attacks and pointed to Washington’s military superiority, arguing that it would have been “suicidal” for Venezuelan air force jets to take off and engage with the enemy. The 60-year-old Gustavo González López previously held posts as interior minister and director of intelligence services and has been under US sanctions since 2015. A career military officer, he briefly studied at the School of the Americas in the early 1990s. Following the January 3 attacks, González was chosen by Rodríguez to lead the presidential guard. He was pictured alongside the acting president during a visit to Caracas from CIA Director John Ratcliffe on January 16. General Henry Navas will replace González as Commander of the Presidential Guard of Honor. Rodríguez announced several other cabinet changes on Wednesday. She had previously replaced the industry, oil, tourism, healthcare, communications, and eco-socialism ministers as well. Jorge Márquez and Rolando Alcalá will take over the housing and electricity portfolios, respectively. Furthermore, Supreme Court magistrate Carlos Alexis Castillo will serve as labor minister amid rising demands for minimum wage increases and labor rights, replacing veteran official Eduardo Piñate. Former Caracas mayor Jacqueline Faría was likewise appointed as the new transport minister, replacing Aníbal Coronado after two months in the post. Faría’s appointment followed a public transportation strike in Caracas as private bus operators push to increase single-ride fares to 120 bolívars, roughly US $0.25 at the present exchange rate. Wednesday’s cabinet changes also included Raúl Cazal becoming culture minister, replacing Ernesto Villegas, who had held the post since 2017. Villegas is one of the candidates shortlisted by the Venezuelan National Assembly for the vacant ombudsman post. Finally, Rodríguez picked academic Ana María Sanjuan as minister of higher education, replacing Ricardo Sánchez. A trained psychologist and professor at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), Sanjuan had participated in political dialogue initiatives as a representative of moderate opposition sectors. venezuelanalysis.com/news/venezuela…

Iranian attacks have crippled 17% of Qatar's liquefied natural gas export capacity. Saad al-Kaabi, CEO of the state-owned Qatar Energy, revealed the extent of the damage. He explained that two of the company's 14 production facilities, as well as a gas-to-liquids plant, were severely damaged in the attacks. The complex repair work will halt production of 12.8 million tons per year for an extended period of three to five years. Al-Kaabi told Reuters: "Even in my worst nightmares, I never imagined that Qatar and the region would be subjected to such an attack, especially from a sisterly Muslim country during the month of Ramadan." The Iranian attack on oil and gas facilities in the Gulf came just hours after a series of Israeli airstrikes targeted Iranian gas infrastructure. Following the extensive damage, Al-Kaabi explained that Qatar Energy would be forced to declare force majeure on long-term contracts to supply gas to countries such as Italy, Belgium, South Korea, and China for periods of up to five years. According to Al-Kaabi, the Texas-based company owns a 34% stake in the S4 production facility and a 30% stake in the S6 facility. In addition to the direct impact on gas production, the damage will also lead to a significant decrease in Qatar's exports of byproducts: condensate exports are expected to fall by approximately 24%, LPG by 13%, and helium by 14%. Oil and sulfur production will also decline by 6% each. The original cost of rebuilding the destroyed facilities is estimated at approximately $26 billion. It should be noted that Qatar Energy was forced to declare force majeure on its entire natural gas production after previous attacks on its main production center in Ras Laffan. When asked about when the production facility would return to operation, Al-Kaabi concluded his statement realistically, saying: "In order to resume production, we need first and foremost a cessation of hostilities in the region. maannews.net/news/2158185.h…

Iran launches wave 66 strikes on Israeli cities and US bases as conflict expands across multiple regional fronts. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced early Friday the launch of the 66th wave of Operation True Promise 4, targeting sites in central and southern Israel, including Tel Aviv, along with US military bases across the region. In its statement, the IRGC said the operation was carried out “with complete success,” using a broad combination of missile systems and drones. According to the statement, the attack involved solid- and liquid-fueled missiles, heavy missiles, multi-warhead systems, and medium-range missiles, including Qadr, Khorramshahr, Kheibar Shekan, Qiam, and Zulfiqar, in addition to suicide drones. The statement said the effects of the war are increasingly being felt inside Israel, where residents have been moving from one air raid siren to another and spending long periods in shelters. The IRGC added that the operations are ongoing, declaring: “We will not leave you… this wave continues.” Explosions Across Cities Shortly afterward, explosions were heard in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and surrounding areas as air raid sirens sounded across multiple parts of Israel. Reports said at least three waves of missiles were launched within less than an hour, underscoring the pace and intensity of the attack. Sirens were also activated in illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, reflecting the geographic breadth of the launches as successive missile waves moved across central and northern areas. As the attack continued, additional launches were reported toward Jerusalem, Galilee, and Haifa. The IRGC said the strikes again targeted central and southern Israel, including Tel Aviv, as well as US military bases in the region, repeating that the operation had been executed “with complete success.” Israeli emergency services said no fatalities were reported in Haifa and no major incidents were recorded in Jerusalem and surrounding areas. Several people were treated for minor injuries sustained while rushing to shelters, while others were reported to be suffering from anxiety as the sirens continued. Regional Warning Issued The missile launches came as Iranian officials widened their political message to the region. Iran’s Foreign Ministry called on neighboring states to prevent the United States and Israel from using their territories and facilities to carry out military operations against Iran. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the current regional crisis stems from what he described as a war imposed by the US and Israel. He said military bases and facilities in regional countries are being used to plan, execute, and support attacks on Iran, and stressed that no country should permit its territory to be used for military aggression against another state. Baghaei warned that those assisting such operations would be considered accomplices, while also reaffirming Iran’s commitment to international law and to the principles of good neighborliness, respect for sovereignty, and territorial integrity. He expressed hope that regional governments would act to prevent further escalation and avoid deepening divisions across the region. At the same time, Iranian officials highlighted the scale of destruction inside the country resulting from the ongoing war. The head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Pir Hossein Kolivand, said more than 70,000 civilian sites have been damaged in US-Israeli attacks on Iran. Kolivand said the strikes have also injured more than 18,000 civilians. According to his figures, the damage includes 251 medical centers and 498 educational facilities, pointing to the heavy toll the war has taken on civilian infrastructure and essential public services across the country. Iraq Position Stated The war’s regional fallout was also evident in Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said Thursday that his government would not tolerate attacks on the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) or any other branch of Iraq’s armed forces. During a visit to PMF headquarters in Baghdad, Sudani described the force as a fundamental component of Iraq’s security institutions, operating under the constitution and the law. He praised its role in protecting Iraq’s sovereignty and stability, and rejected accusations that it operates outside state authority, describing such claims as “ignorance or deliberate misinformation.” palestinechronicle.com/complete-succe…

A Belgian court has ordered former diplomat Etienne Davignon to stand trial over his alleged role in the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s first prime minister and an anti-colonial figure, more than six decades ago. Davignon, 93, is accused of participation in war crimes, including Lumumba’s “unlawful detention and transfer,” denying him a fair trial, and subjecting him to humiliating and degrading treatment, according to prosecutors. The decision by the Council Chamber of the Brussels Court of First Instance, announced on Tuesday, also covers the killings of Lumumba’s allies Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito. Davignon is the sole survivor among the ten Belgians accused by Lumumba’s family. He was not in court when the ruling was delivered, Reuters reported, adding that his lawyer declined to comment. The former European commissioner was a junior diplomat at the time of Lumumba’s murder and has previously denied Lumumba became prime minister when Congo gained independence from Belgium in 1960, but was ousted within months and executed by firing squad in January 1961 at the age of 35. Although Congolese separatists carried out the assassination, questions have long persisted over Belgian and US involvement during the Cold War. A Belgian parliamentary inquiry in 2001 found that Belgium bore “moral responsibility” for his death, a finding later acknowledged by the government in an official apology. Lumumba had sought Soviet support during Congo’s post-independence crisis, and the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN) was named after him as a symbol of African independence. In 2022, Belgium returned a gold-capped tooth – the only known remains of Lumumba – to his family. In a press release, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights said the Lumumba family has welcomed the latest court decision as the start of a long-awaited reckoning with Belgium’s responsibility for acts committed “in the name of colonial rule.” “What we ask of this court is simple: the truth, spoken aloud, in the open, on the record of justice and history,” it stated wrongdoing. He has two weeks to appeal and, unless the ruling is overturned, the trial is expected to begin in 2027. orinocotribune.com/ex-belgian-dip…

USA couldn't handle Lumumba existing.

The scale of the request is a measure of the war Trump has launched. Far from being, as the president has called it, an “excursion,” the $200 billion the Pentagon is seeking exceeds even the peak annual cost of the Iraq war, which ran to roughly $140 billion a year at the height of the 2007 surge—when 170,000 American troops occupied the country. No ground invasion has yet taken place in Iran, and the administration is already seeking a larger appropriation than the costliest year of the eight-year Iraq occupation. The war burned through more than $11 billion in its first week alone. The supplemental comes on top of the $839 billion defense appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2026, the largest military budget in American history, which Congress passed in January. When combined with spending on intelligence agencies, the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons programs and other national security expenditures, total US military spending exceeds $1 trillion a year. Every leading Democrat in Congress voted for the defense appropriations bill earlier this year. In the House, it passed 341 to 88, with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Minority Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar voting in favor. The Senate approved it 71 to 29, with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Whip Dick Durbin on the same side. The same Democrats who now posture as critics of the war voted to fund the military machine waging it. Even before the war began, President Donald Trump had called for a $1.5 trillion defense budget for the next fiscal year—a more than 50 percent increase—making clear that the administration views the Iran war as only one front in a broader military buildup directed against Russia and China. Calls for a ground invasion are growing louder from within the US political establishment. Republican Representative Pete Sessions of Texas appeared on CNN Tuesday to advocate openly for Marines to seize Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal, while claiming absurdly that an island assault would not constitute “boots on the ground.” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham posted on X: “He who controls Kharg Island, controls the destiny of this war. Semper Fi.” The amphibious assault carrier USS Tripoli, carrying roughly 2,200 Marines of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), was spotted Tuesday steaming through the Strait of Malacca toward the Persian Gulf—the first ground combat force headed to the theater. Some 50,000 US service members are already in the region, backed by three carrier strike groups. On Day 19 of the war, the assassinations continued. Israel murdered Iran’s intelligence minister, Esmaeil Khatib, in an overnight airstrike Wednesday. This is the latest in a systematic extermination campaign that has killed the supreme leader and much of the Iranian government’s senior leadership since February 28. Israeli military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin declared: “We will continue chasing all of the regime’s senior officials. The series of assassinations will not stop.” Wednesday also saw the most significant attack on Iranian energy infrastructure since the war began: airstrikes on the South Pars gas field, which supplies 70 percent of Iran’s natural gas. Iran responded by launching missiles at Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, home to the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility, causing what QatarEnergy described as “extensive damage.” Missiles and drones also targeted Saudi Arabia, while Iraq announced that Iranian gas imports, which account for a third of its electricity supply, had been severed entirely. Working people are immediately paying the price for the US-Israeli war on Iran in the form of higher gas prices. Brent crude oil topped $110 a barrel Wednesday, up more than 40 percent since February 28. Gasoline in the United States has climbed 29 percent to $3.84 a gallon, and diesel has broken through $5 for the first time since the 2022 inflation spike. wsws.org/en/articles/20…

@UnplugTheEmpire @ComptonMadeMe Big deal. We have an entire country without a pilot.

A building in the Bashura area in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

Among anti-war sectors in the United States, it is common to adopt a position of “neither the United States nor Iran.” But without politically supporting Iran’s theocratic regime, anti-imperialism demands a sense of proportion. It’s now been three weeks since President Trump, in coordination with Israel, launched an imperialist war on Iran. While a massive anti-war movement has yet to emerge, poll after poll indicates that the war is widely unpopular in the United States. The socialist Left has been at the forefront of attempts to transform this anti-war sentiment into a movement, leading to extensive analysis and debate over how we should understand the war and what positions we should adopt. From the outset, Left Voice’s position, along with that of our international organization, the Current for Permanent Revolution – Fourth International (CPR-FI), has been to support the defeat of U.S. imperialism and Israel while offering no political support to the bourgeois theocratic regime in Iran. This position diverges from much of the anti-war Left in the United States. Aside from an influential segment of the Left that supports the Iranian regime as part of an “anti-imperialist” camp, the prevailing stance among socialists and broader anti-war sectors tends to be one of “neither, nor” — that is, supporting neither U.S. imperialism nor Iran. The argument is that both U.S. imperialism and the regime in Iran have blood-soaked histories of crushing working-class struggles, so neither deserves support. While it’s true that neither deserves political support, equating the United States and Iran militarily and politically overlooks the crucial political context: the international division of labor, in which imperialist countries dominate, exploit, and plunder oppressed nations. In fact, a deeper examination of Iran’s position within the imperialist system reveals why supporting the military defeat of the United States should be the Left’s stance if our goal is to advance the class struggle necessary to liberate our class from imperialist oppression. The problem with the “neither, nor” position is that it fails to properly account for the uneven relationship between U.S. imperialism and Iran, placing both on the same level. But they are not on the same level, and the defeat of the U.S.-Israel camp in this conflict would yield a different outcome from the defeat of Iran. If the United States and Israel were to militarily defeat Iran, they would achieve unmatched dominance in the Middle East. Further, a defeat of Iran would grant Israel even greater freedom to continue annexing Palestine and ethnically cleansing the Palestinian people. Conversely, if Iran were to militarily defeat the United States and Israel, the enduring burden of imperialist oppression throughout the Middle East would be alleviated, creating greater opportunities for class struggle to develop across the region. This potential for heightened class struggle also opens the door for Palestinian liberation, because not only would Israel be defeated but a scenario could unfold in which the masses begin to challenge their own regimes. These regimes have sought to negotiate favorable positions within the imperialist system while suppressing the efforts of workers and popular classes to organize against economic misery and in solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Iran Is an Oppressed Nation In material terms, Iran cannot be equated with the behemoth that is the U.S. Empire. The empire wields power on a global scale; its banks and corporations set the financial terms of the world economy and use tools like sanctions to discipline certain nations. It possesses an unmatched military presence, with bases worldwide and allies like Israel acting as local enforcers to protect its interests in strategic regions such as the Middle East. In contrast, Iran is a nation historically oppressed by U.S. imperialism, one whose military resources are far more modest. For much of the 20th century, Iran was the battleground for a sustained struggle for sovereignty against imperialist intervention, led by the Iranian masses and opposed by imperialist powers, particularly the British Empire and later the United States. Imperialism manifested in the imposition of the shah’s brutal regime on two occasions, including the first-ever CIA coup, in 1953. Then, in 1979, the Iranian people’s long-standing fight for sovereignty culminated in the revolution that overthrew the shah. Although this revolution is often remembered as an “Islamic revolution” that established the current Iranian regime, it was, in fact, led by the Iranian working class, which organized the revolution democratically from below in shoras (workers’ councils). Iranian oil workers played a decisive role in this by going on strike. The United States, recognizing that a successful worker-led revolution could inspire similar movements throughout the region, supported the bourgeois clerics in Iran as they seized power and systematically massacred the workers and communists who had led the revolution. Since then, Iran has lived with an inherent contradiction. On the one hand, the Islamic Republic is built on capitalist relations — bosses and large property owners dominate the workers, who must sell their labor, and a repressive state suppresses independent unions, left organizations, and oppressed minorities. On the other hand, it still bears the marks of the mass uprising that brought it to power: greater state control over oil, some degree of national independence from direct imperial diktat, and a population that once experienced its own power in 1979 and in later uprisings. The result is a regime born from a genuine anti-imperialist uprising, one that maintains some national autonomy yet rests on capitalist exploitation and oppression, necessitating the repression of workers, women, and marginalized groups whenever they attempt to push the revolution further. That’s the contradictory reality: in the imperialist hierarchy, Iran is an oppressed country, living under sanctions, surrounded by U.S. military bases, and threatened with bombs and regime change; the Islamic Republic, meanwhile, is a political regime that defends the interests of the country’s bourgeoisie. This explains the ongoing waves of class struggle waged by teachers, oil workers, and oppressed nationalities, as well as the feminist movement, all fighting for their wages, against the sanctions imposed on them, and against state repression. For the Oppressed, against the Oppressor A weakened United States would empower workers in the Middle East to organize their struggles from a stronger position, since the U.S. would have less capacity to support the repressive apparatuses of the Gulf states and military regimes like Egypt, which crush any opportunity for their people to protest. Israel would be unable to continue its genocide and occupation with the assurance of U.S. backing through billions in funding for its “defense.” Even Iranian workers would find greater opportunities to organize against their own regime on their own terms. Currently, Iranians opposing the regime face the dual challenges of state repression and U.S. intervention through sanctions that exacerbate economic crises, which workers disproportionately endure, along with attempts by the U.S. to co-opt popular struggles in Iran for imperialist purposes. A defeat of U.S. imperialism would have rumblings beyond the Middle East. As Trump focuses on war with Iran, his administration is also advancing a “Donroe Doctrine” to promote imperialist interests throughout Latin America. Undoubtedly, workers and oppressed peoples in Latin America, witnessing a defeat of the United States in the Middle East, would be inspired to renew their own resistance and draw lessons from any worker-led processes of anti-imperialist resistance that might emerge from Iran or other Middle Eastern countries. This is particularly significant for Cuban and Venezuelan workers, who are suffering under the weight of U.S. imperialism while the regimes in their countries negotiate conditions that allow U.S. interests to further encroach on their economies and political systems. leftvoice.org/a-defeat-of-th…

Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi explains why he refers to US elites as the "Epstein Class". @s_m_marandi

President Donald Trump on NATO countries: "I was surprised to see that NATO - while they agree that it was a very important thing to do, they agree fully, nobody said 'oh you shouldn't do it' - I think NATO is making a very foolish mistake, I've long said that I wonder whether or not NATO would ever be there for us, so this was a great test"

Gregory Knopf, a 64-year-old worker at Ford Motor Company’s Sharonville Transmission Plant in Ohio, was killed on Monday, March 16, after a press machine activated while undergoing routine maintenance and pinned him against equipment. First responders freed Knopf and transported him to Bethesda North Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He is survived by his wife, three children and eight grandchildren. In comments to the local media, Knopf’s son Corey described his father as the best man he knew. His daughter Miranda Boutwell remembered him as selfless. “My dad was always willing to help anybody in need,” she said. “I wish he would be around to see the rest of my life, but I know that he will be proud, and I know that he is proud.” An obituary posted online states: “A lifelong resident of the greater Cincinnati area, Greg built a life centered on faith, family, and hard work. He was a skilled plumber and pipe fitter who took pride in his craft and the work of his hands.” According to the Sharonville Police Department, officers responded to the plant at approximately 9:45 a.m. The press machine, during routine service, turned on. Police said there were multiple witnesses. The Hamilton County Coroner’s Office, OSHA, and Ford’s administrative staff have all opened investigations into the incident. Ford issued a perfunctory statement claiming that “safety is our highest priority.” The circumstances of Knopf’s death bear a grim resemblance to a pattern of workplace fatalities across the auto industry. Just over 11 months ago, 63-year-old Ronald Adams Sr. was killed at the Stellantis Dundee Engine Plant in Monroe County, Michigan, when an overhead gantry crushed him while he serviced equipment. An independent investigation conducted by the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees found evidence of routine bypassing of lockout/tagout procedures and accelerated production schedules. The US Department of Labor reported that 5,070 workers were killed on the job in 2024, a figure that vastly understates the true toll because it excludes most deaths from workplace-related illness. The AFL-CIO estimates that occupational disease claimed 135,000 lives in 2023 alone. Will Lehman, a Mack Trucks worker running for UAW president in 2026, issued a statement on Knopf’s death connecting it directly to the death of Ronald Adams Sr. and the broader failure of the UAW apparatus to defend workers’ lives. “These deaths are the predictable, preventable product of a system that treats workers as expendable inputs to production,” Lehman wrote in the statement posted on his website. Lehman indicted the union leadership’s conduct following Adams’ death as a template for what workers should expect now. “In the eleven months since Ronald Adams Sr. was killed, Shawn Fain’s apparatus has issued no statement demanding accountability from Stellantis, made no public demands of MIOSHA, and moved as quickly as possible to restore production at Dundee Engine,” he wrote. “The UAW bureaucracy’s silence over the death of Ronald Adams Sr. tells workers everything they need to know about what to expect following the death of Gregory Knopf.” Lehman’s statement called for rank-and-file workers to wrest control of workplace safety from both management and the union bureaucracy. “We cannot defend our lives while we are bound hand and foot by a union apparatus that stands against us at every turn,” he wrote, calling for the establishment of democratically controlled rank-and-file safety committees with real authority to halt unsafe operations, enforce lockout/tagout procedures and conduct independent investigations. wsws.org/en/articles/20…

Some Iranian Monarchists "really want to be white" "embrace of Israel, embrace of Zionism, being opposed to the Gaza war, supporting the MAGA movement, is essentially is their way of integrating"

Young people support Palestine over Israel at a rate of 7-1 It's wishful thinking for Israel's allies to assume that all of its erosion in the American political landscape has been a function of Antisemitism.

China develops an electric passenger aircraft without a pilot. Electrical Vertical Take-off and Landing Aircrafts.

UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan received Jordanian King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein on Monday, where the two leaders discussed regional developments and the military escalation in the region. According to the official Emirates News Agency (WAM), the meeting addressed the blatant and ongoing Iranian attacks targeting countries in the region, which constitute a violation of state sovereignty, international laws and norms, and pose a threat to international peace and security. During the meeting, the two sides discussed regional developments in light of the military escalation and its serious repercussions that threaten the security and stability of the region, stressing the need to stop military operations and resort to dialogue and diplomatic solutions, in addition to strengthening bilateral cooperation between the two countries. In this context, the Jordanian monarch reiterated his country’s solidarity with the United Arab Emirates regarding all the measures it takes to defend its sovereignty and security and to ensure the safety of its citizens. For his part, the UAE President affirmed his country’s solidarity with Jordan in confronting Iranian attacks targeting its sovereignty and security. Both sides stressed the need for an immediate halt to the escalating military operations and for prioritizing serious dialogue and diplomatic solutions in addressing the various outstanding issues in the region in order to preserve its security and spare it further tensions and crises. maannews.net/news/2157971.h…

#SudanNews Dozens were killed when a drone, believed to belong to the armed forces, targeted a Dafour vehicle that was transporting them from Abu Zabad to Al-Fula in West Kordofan. Eyewitnesses said that the death toll was in the dozens, mostly women and children, all from the same family. For its part, the Sudanese Founding Alliance condemned the launch of a drone that targeted civilians in the Al-Sunut area of ​​West Kordofan State, which resulted in the death of 17 women. The coalition explained in a statement that the civilians were targeted while on their way to offer condolences in their areas. The coalition announced that it reserves the right to respond to these attacks, and both sides in the war intensified their drone attacks during the past two days, which led to the killing of dozens of civilians in Darfur, Kordofan and White Nile. The United Nations, through its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Sudan, expressed concern about the escalating pace of drone attacks in several states across the country in recent days. dabangasudan.org/ar/all-news/ar…

In Los Angeles County, more than six homeless people die every day, a staggering toll that reveals the social reality concealed behind the image of prosperity promoted by politicians and the corporate media. In 2024 alone, 2,208 people experiencing homelessness were found dead, after a modest decline from the previous year. The mortality rate for unhoused people is more than four times higher than that of the general population. These deaths occur in a region that is home to 54 billionaires and 516 centimillionaires. California itself, with an economy larger than most countries, is one of the richest territories on the planet. Yet for tens of thousands of people forced to live on sidewalks, in tents, vehicles and makeshift encampments, life expectancy collapses under the weight of poverty and neglect. Behind each statistic lies a largely invisible process carried out daily at the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner, whose personnel collect the bodies of the dead from streets, parking lots and encampments throughout the metropolitan area. The causes of death among unhoused people reflect the inhumane conditions imposed by life on the streets. Drug and alcohol overdoses remain the leading cause of death, accounting for roughly 40 percent of all fatalities among the homeless population. Hundreds die every year from overdoses involving fentanyl, methamphetamine and other substances. But substance use alone does not explain the full picture. Homeless mortality is driven by a complex interaction of untreated illness, physical danger and chronic deprivation. According to county health data: Coronary heart disease is the second leading cause of death, responsible for about 14 percent of fatalities. Transportation-related injuries (people struck by vehicles while walking along roads or sleeping near traffic) are the third leading cause, with a homeless person killed by a vehicle roughly every other day. Homicide ranks among the top causes, reflecting the violence faced by people living without shelter. Suicide remains a persistent cause of death, particularly among younger homeless individuals. Many deaths are classified broadly as “natural,” including heart failure, liver disease and complications from chronic illness that have gone untreated for years due to lack of healthcare. Many bodies are discovered in tents, at abandoned lots, bus stops, sidewalks, vehicles or parks, locations that reveal the reality of daily survival outside the shelter system. The process that follows the death of a person on the street in Los Angeles is both highly bureaucratic and revealing of the scale of the crisis. Police officers, firefighters or paramedics typically respond first. If death is confirmed, investigators from the Medical Examiner-Coroner’s office are dispatched to document the circumstances of death, collect evidence and arrange transport of the body to county facilities. These teams operate across a sprawling metropolitan region where tens of thousands of people live unsheltered. Coroner investigators regularly visit encampments, alleyways, freeway underpasses and public parks, locations that have effectively become the last homes of many of the deceased. The bodies are transported to the county morgue, where autopsies and toxicology tests are performed to determine the cause of death. Because of backlogs in forensic testing, especially toxicology screening for drugs, official determinations can take months. Identification is often difficult due to the lack of documents, long lost or stolen during life on the streets. Authorities attempt to contact next of kin through fingerprints, missing-person records and other databases. But in many cases families are located only after prolonged investigation, or not at all. Some of the dead remain unidentified for months or years. The grim reality is that large numbers of the deceased are estranged from family or have lost contact with them long before their deaths. 6 deaths a day: Homeless mortality exposes social catastrophe in Los Angeles Marc Wells 3 hours ago Los Angeles on 2 November 2019. [Photo by mjhbower / CC BY-SA 2.0] In Los Angeles County, more than six homeless people die every day, a staggering toll that reveals the social reality concealed behind the image of prosperity promoted by politicians and the corporate media. In 2024 alone, 2,208 people experiencing homelessness were found dead, after a modest decline from the previous year. The mortality rate for unhoused people is more than four times higher than that of the general population. These deaths occur in a region that is home to 54 billionaires and 516 centimillionaires. California itself, with an economy larger than most countries, is one of the richest territories on the planet. Yet for tens of thousands of people forced to live on sidewalks, in tents, vehicles and makeshift encampments, life expectancy collapses under the weight of poverty and neglect. Behind each statistic lies a largely invisible process carried out daily at the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner, whose personnel collect the bodies of the dead from streets, parking lots and encampments throughout the metropolitan area. The causes of death among unhoused people reflect the inhumane conditions imposed by life on the streets. Drug and alcohol overdoses remain the leading cause of death, accounting for roughly 40 percent of all fatalities among the homeless population. Hundreds die every year from overdoses involving fentanyl, methamphetamine and other substances. But substance use alone does not explain the full picture. Homeless mortality is driven by a complex interaction of untreated illness, physical danger and chronic deprivation. According to county health data: Coronary heart disease is the second leading cause of death, responsible for about 14 percent of fatalities. Transportation-related injuries (people struck by vehicles while walking along roads or sleeping near traffic) are the third leading cause, with a homeless person killed by a vehicle roughly every other day. Homicide ranks among the top causes, reflecting the violence faced by people living without shelter. Suicide remains a persistent cause of death, particularly among younger homeless individuals. Many deaths are classified broadly as “natural,” including heart failure, liver disease and complications from chronic illness that have gone untreated for years due to lack of healthcare. Many bodies are discovered in tents, at abandoned lots, bus stops, sidewalks, vehicles or parks, locations that reveal the reality of daily survival outside the shelter system. The process that follows the death of a person on the street in Los Angeles is both highly bureaucratic and revealing of the scale of the crisis. Police officers, firefighters or paramedics typically respond first. If death is confirmed, investigators from the Medical Examiner-Coroner’s office are dispatched to document the circumstances of death, collect evidence and arrange transport of the body to county facilities. These teams operate across a sprawling metropolitan region where tens of thousands of people live unsheltered. Coroner investigators regularly visit encampments, alleyways, freeway underpasses and public parks, locations that have effectively become the last homes of many of the deceased. The bodies are transported to the county morgue, where autopsies and toxicology tests are performed to determine the cause of death. Because of backlogs in forensic testing, especially toxicology screening for drugs, official determinations can take months. Identification is often difficult due to the lack of documents, long lost or stolen during life on the streets. Authorities attempt to contact next of kin through fingerprints, missing-person records and other databases. But in many cases families are located only after prolonged investigation, or not at all. Some of the dead remain unidentified for months or years. The grim reality is that large numbers of the deceased are estranged from family or have lost contact with them long before their deaths. The discovery of homeless deaths is itself shaped by a broader political campaign directed from City Hall. Under successive administrations, the city has intensified what officials call “encampment resolution” operations. These sweeps involve sanitation workers, police, outreach personnel and private contractors clearing homeless encampments from sidewalks, parks and freeway underpasses. During such operations workers frequently encounter individuals who have died in tents or makeshift shelters. The sweeps are carried out under directives that prioritize the removal of encampments near schools, parks and high-profile commercial districts. City officials routinely describe these operations as humanitarian interventions, but in practice they often displace people from one neighborhood to another without providing permanent housing. For many individuals, displacement deepens the instability that contributes to illness, addiction, exposure to violence and, too often, death. While thousands die on the streets each year, the official response to homelessness in Los Angeles has increasingly been shaped by financial and political interests. wsws.org/en/articles/20…

Iran offered to give away ALL of its enriched uranium during peace talks in Geneva. The British thought it was a credible offer. Hours later, Trump started bombing Iran anyway. The US didn't want peace, they wanted war.