Posted by Tyler Durden:  Authored by Jennifer Kavanagh via Responsible Statecraft,

On August 18, Israel bombed a non-operational Syrian air base, reportedly to derail Turkish plans to deploy military forces to the installation. The move drew swift condemnation from the United States, which did not receive prior notification despite its growing support for Syria, its alliance with Turkey, and the presence of thousands of U.S. military personnel based nearby, in Jordan and other parts of the region.

Is this the behavior of a "model ally"? The Jewish Institute for National Security of America seems to think so.

The group, which promotes "strategic cooperation" between the United States and Israel, tries to defend this position in its new report, "Shifting the Center of Gravity: Transforming the U.S.-Israel Security Partnership." It also lays out an ambitious set of proposals JINSA hopes will be part of a renewed 10-year U.S.-Israel Memorandum of Understanding (the current one expires in 2028). JINSA wants this "final" direct aid package to include $38 billion total and be "paired with new, mostly non-monetary initiatives that deepen and expand the U.S.-Israel partnership."

The recommendations in this report - which also include signing a mutual defense pact, basing U.S. military forces in Israel, and integrating Israeli technology into U.S. homeland defense - should be rejected as threats to U.S. national security. Not only would they cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, but the prescriptions would make the United States less safe than it is today, by institutionalizing U.S. military entanglement with (and even dependence on) Israel and increasing the risk of future wars.

Instead the Trump administration should instead let the current MoU expire in 2028 with no replacement. With a strong military and nuclear arsenal, Israel can defend itself.

The JINSA report opens by heralding Israel as "America's most important ally," praising its military prowess, technological capability, and willingness to project military power in pursuit of supposedly shared goals. Missing from its account of Israel's support during Operation Epic Fury, however, is any mention of Israel's role in starting, escalating, or widening the war. These are certainly relevant details if we are judging whether the bilateral relationship is an asset or a liability to the United States.

The report sidesteps these realities and instead moves quickly to a set of 10 proposals that it argues will take the bilateral partnership to the "next level." From the perspective of protecting U.S. national interests, these ideas range from bad to insane

Hans van Leeuwen International Economics Editor , telegraph.co.uk

Beijing has threatened to retaliate if China is hit by Donald Trump’s new Iran sanctions, raising fears of a fresh trade war between the two superpowers.

China’s ties with Iran “should not be interfered with or undermined”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian warned on Tuesday, just hours after the White House vowed to target countries that refused to cut ties with Tehran.

“China is closely monitoring relevant developments and will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard its own rights and interests,” he told a press conference in Beijing.

Mr Lin called for dialogue and negotiation rather than “economic warfare”. He said sanctions would “escalate tensions, create spillover risks, and disrupt the global economic and financial order”.

His comments came after Scott Bessent, Mr Trump’s treasury secretary, launched “Operation Economic Outcast” on Monday, which aims to fully isolate Iran from the global economy and financial system.

This could include using secondary sanctions to punish countries that trade with, invest in or lend to the Iranian regime.

“Our objective is to sever every economic lifeline that sustains this tyrannical regime until Tehran stands alone,” Mr Bessent said.

China is one of Iran’s major trading partners. Its network of small domestic refineries, known as “teapots”, bought about 80pc of seaborne Iranian crude oil exported last year.

Tehran and Beijing have a self-described “comprehensive strategic partnership” that included about $40bn (£29bn) of two-way trade last year.

Claire's Observations:  The escalation of tensions; the creation of spillover risks, that the disruption of the global economic and financial order, is precisely what Trump and Bessent, appear to want to see happen, with these moves.

That Trump and Bessent actually expected any other response from China, other than what they have received, I think demonstrates how collectively and horrifically badly, they have mis-read how the world was going to receive these sanctions, courtesy of their "Our way or the highway!" approach. 

I am reminded of about the only thing Karl Marx, one of the founders of Communism, ever got right; all wars are economic in their origin. 

I find myself deeply concerned about several possibilities happening in the near-term, all of which will do nothing to move these hostilities toward a responsible, just, or lasting piece.  

The first, is an absolute resumption of hostilities by Iran, which at this point, may feel it has nothing to lose by doing so.

The second is a potential false flag to be blamed on Iran, as the "bloody shirt" to be waved in front of the American public as "the justification" to conjure up something approximating  voter support for a continuation of US/Israeli military hostilities against it.

The third is the timing  of the RNC convention next month in Dallas, on September 9th and 10th.... right before the US commemorates the anniversary of 9/11.   

Folks, I hope to hell I'm wrong on all counts; but both Israel's Netanyahu and the US's President Trump, are facing some pretty bleak polling right now, and have elections this fall,  with Netanyahu's party  dealing with elections in October, and President Trump's Republican Party (theoretically) having mid-terms against the Democratic Party in November. 

But what happens if Russia and/or China decide to provide Iran with direct military aid, including troops and equipment with which to fight the US and Israel?!?   I would really, really NOT want to see that happen, and  would like to hope that those currently in the bowels of power in DC, have the "horse sense" to do everything they can to prevent this from becoming an horrific reality.

Michael Snyder, themostimportantnews.com

Virtually everyone agrees that our public schools are in a state of decline. Needless to say, it isn’t because we aren’t spending enough money. The federal government, our state governments and our local governments are collectively spending nearly a trillion dollars a year on public education. That is a colossal pile of money. Since 1960, spending per student has increased by 350 percent. That is even after adjusting for inflation. At this stage, we spend more money per student than any other nation on the entire planet other than Luxembourg. Anyone that believes that we can solve our education crisis by spending even more money is simply being delusional.

For nearly a trillion dollars a year, we should be getting a world class education system.

But we aren’t.

In fact, students in the U.S. just keep dropping down the global rankings.

Urgent action is required if we are going to turn this around.

Gallup conducted a survey that discovered that an all-time low 35 percent of U.S. adults are satisfied with the quality of public education in the United States.

There appears to be a growing consensus that we have a major national crisis on our hands, and those that are responsible for this crisis need to be held accountable. The following are 16 facts about the shocking decline of public education in the U.S. that every American should know…

One Bad Week, by Dr. Ron Paul, lewrockwell.com

1It took around two hundred years for US government debt to reach one trillion dollars. By contrast, in less than half a year a trillion was added to bring the debt total to the 40 trillion dollars it reached last week. According to the Peterson Foundation, US government debt is on a path to reach 50 trillion dollars within the next six years.

This erosion of the dollar’s value is why 29 percent of Americans have used buy now, pay later loans in the last year to pay for expenses such as rent and groceries. Another consequence of the dollar’s shrinking value is that, according to a survey by digital finance company Achieve, 53 percent of Americans are carrying credit card balances for necessary expenses.

America’s welfare-warfare state appears to be in its final days. The economic crisis that will lead to the end of the current system will likely involve the rejection of the dollar’s reserve currency status. This will cause a collapse in the dollar’s value. In this situation, Americans will have an opportunity to replace the authoritarianism of both the left and right wing of the ruling uniparty with volunteerism in our economic lives, our personal lives, and our dealings with other countries.

by By Greg Jaffe, Eric Schmitt, Helene Cooper and Adam Entous, nytimes.com

A series of firings and feuds initiated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has left the Army essentially rudderless as it struggles to deal with the threat posed by cheap, deadly drones and missiles that have pounded U.S. bases in the Middle East.

The Army has not had a chief of staff, the service’s top officer, since Mr. Hegseth fired Gen. Randy George without explanation in April, and there are no signs that he is close to filling the position, said current and former officials speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters.

Mr. Hegseth has forced out at least three senior officers who had been viewed as potential successors to General George.

Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll, the service’s top civilian leader, is also expected to leave the administration in the next few months and has already moved out of the large family house that he was renting in Fort Myer, outside Washington, officials said.

“Hollowing out the most battle-tested and most lethal, proven leaders in a time of war means troops are less safe and we’re less likely to win,” said Representative Pat Ryan, Democrat of New York and a former Army intelligence officer.

A long-term worry is that the firings send a message that officers who provide frank military advice or fail ideological litmus tests have no place in a force that is supposed to be nonpartisan, military and congressional officials said. “We’re doing generational damage to the sense that the military is an apolitical trusted organization that swears an oath to the Constitution, not to a president,” Mr. Ryan added.

Claire's Observations:  Representative Ryan is absolutely correct; it's really looking as though everyone of reasonable rank in the US military, is getting unceremoniously kicked out by Hegseth. 

 But with no reasonable replacements even put forward so far for these vacancies are concerned, it appears that Hegseth believes that he can run the entire Department of War by himself, which is one hell of a real misunderstanding as to why he's in that position in the first place.

by Tyler Durden

The U.S. Department of War has announced a $750 million investment aimed at securing long-term supplies of critical rare-earth elements from Serra Verde’s Pela Ema mine in central Brazil, as Washington accelerates efforts to reduce its dependence on China for strategically important minerals, according to a DOW press release out this week. 

The investment, announced Aug. 24 through the department’s Economic Defense Unit and Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment program, will support an offtake agreement for mixed rare-earth carbonates produced by Serra Verde. It forms part of a broader $1.55 billion financing and purchasing structure that also includes a $300 million commitment from the Defense Logistics Agency and $500 million from a major commercial bank.

The release says that the agreement is intended to give the U.S. and its allies more reliable access to dysprosium, terbium, neodymium and praseodymium.

These elements are crucial inputs for high-performance permanent magnets used across advanced defense systems, including fighter aircraft, nuclear submarines, guided missiles, satellites and drones. They are also increasingly important to electric transportation, energy infrastructure, aerospace and electronics.

Claire's Observations:  Chalk one up for the continuance of endless US warfare around  the world

by Tyler Durden

Our report from several weeks ago, titled "SpaceX In 'Final Stages' Of Securing Massive New Rocket Launch Site In Louisiana," was confirmed Tuesday afternoon by Elon Musk and his rocket company.

"Starbase, Louisiana, will be built to support thousands of Starship flights a year, with missions launching to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond," SpaceX wrote on X.

Let's come back to our Aug. 3 report, in which we cited the Times-Picayune:

SpaceX is poised to take control of roughly 130,000 acres at Pecan Island, more specifically in coastal Vermilion Parish, as part of a settlement resolving long-running coastal lawsuits against ExxonMobil. Gov. Jeff Landry is expected to announce the agreement this month.

One X user responded to Musk's post: "This is unironically the biggest thing to happen to Louisiana since the Louisiana Purchase."

Claire's Observations:  I want to wish Musk, and this megaproject, well; I hope that it is a boon for the people of Louisiana, and something  about which every American can feel proud.

By Erika Solomon, nytimes.com

Facing a fresh economic assault from the United States, Iran’s leaders are gambling that they can weather the coming storm and make the cost of their suffering felt in an oil-rich region that is critical to the global economy.

As Iran’s ever more devastating economic crisis deepens, experts warn, Iranian leaders may feel they have little to lose by responding to U.S. pressure with the kind of military escalation President Trump now seems keen to avoid.

“The danger is that ‘economic D-Day’ is being presented almost as a substitute for further war when it may instead become another mechanism for escalating it,” said Sina Toossi, an Iran expert at the Center for International Policy. “The harder Washington pushes third countries to sever Iran’s remaining lifelines, the stronger Tehran’s incentive becomes to demonstrate that participating in Iran’s isolation carries costs of its own.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday announced a new package of U.S. measures to disrupt Iran’s economy, although he offered few details. The success of the U.S. efforts will also depend on how much the Trump administration can convince other countries to go along with its plan — especially critical trade partners for Iran, like Turkey, Russia, and China

Claire's Observations:  Those "critical trade partners"of Iran  to which this article alludes (Turkey, Russia, and China), have all collectively told the US government to go pound sand. So now, what?!?   

 It looks as though Bessent's "game plan" won't work under any circumstances; that he actually thought it would, is not a terribly great endorsement of his financial prowess or expertise.

Russian forces used Iskander tactical ballistic missile systems to strike a concentration of heavy trucks modified to transport and launch long-range unmanned aerial vehicles near Boryspil in the Kiev region, according to the Russian Ministry of Defence. The Ministry claimed that the strike destroyed up to 40 trucks equipped with launchers, potentially disrupting Ukraine's ability to conduct long-range drone operations from the area. The targeting of drone launch vehicles has increasingly been prioritised, as drone strikes take a growing toll on Russia’s economy by targeting critical infrastructure.  

Abdul El-Sayed, the Islamic Democrat hoping to win an open U.S. Senate seat in Michigan, has mounted a bizarre defense of a barbaric practice that he wants American taxpayers to fund: sex-rejection mutilations for children.

On "Jesse Watters Primetime" on Fox News Monday, El-Sayed — who holds a medical degree but has seemingly never put it to clinical use — repeatedly dodged when the eponymous host pressed him with difficult questions, especially regarding medical care.

CBS News Senior White House reporter Jennifer Jacobs has provided some clarity on the mysterious US Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft that flew to Moscow earlier today.

Jacobs said, "Scoop: CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Russia aboard a C-17 for meetings in Moscow today, sources told @Olivia_Gazis @JimLaPorta and me. @CBSNews." 

by Tyler Durden

There continue to be clear signals that the White House is moving away from the potential for renewed military action and instead settling in for a long economic siege campaign targeting Iran, on a permanent basis.

The avoidance of more bombs away and with all the risks and uncertainty of a military 'solution' has seen oil prices drop. Energy prices are weakening also amid positive signals from Pakistan's army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, who just left Tehran after carrying a fresh US-drafted framework. Crude oil prices (WTI) dropped 3% to just below $82.50 a barrel on Tuesday, extending the 2.4% decline recorded in the previous session.

Al-Arabiya is reporting that he presented an offer to lift sanctions under the MOU, so long as Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz and halts all hostile actions against Gulf states.

Munir had spoken to Trump by phone before travelling to Tehran, which underscores the high-level nature of the reported offer. Other top Pakistani officials accompanied him: em>

Pakistan and Iran made "significant progress" in talks that focused on the US-Israeli war on Iran and a path to peace, Pakistan’s interior minister said on Tuesday, at the end of a visit to Tehran. Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi subsequently stated on X, "The Iranian President candidly shared his government’s perspective and we had a very constructive exchange on the issues involved."

Claire's Observations;  I will believe that progress has been made, when I see it.  And right now, it's a little ..... unseeable,. at least in the short term.  

In a new op-ed, Robert Kagan argues that the war started by the US and Israel has resulted in Iran becoming the dominant power in the Middle East. 

“As a result, Iran has, with American help, completely reconfigured the power structure of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf,” Kagan wrote in The Atlantic on Sunday. “The dominant power in the region going forward will be Iran, not the US or Israel.”

In 1997, Kagan co-founded Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a neoconservative think tank that lobbied for an aggressive foreign policy and the Iraq War.  Kagan is a war hawk who has long falsely claimed that Iran is working to build a nuclear weapon, and Washington must prevent Tehran from obtaining nukes. President Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that he launched the war to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. 

The Chinese government warned in a statement on 24 August against the massive economic warfare and large-scale sanctions campaign Washington is prepping against Iran, vowing to “protect its legitimate rights” as an ally of Tehran and warning that the “escalation serves no one.”

Jonathan Pollard, the Israeli spy who betrayed the United States, has called on Israel to prepare for war against Egypt and Turkey as he launches his campaign for a Knesset seat in October’s election.

The American-born former US Navy intelligence analyst spent 30 years in prison after passing a vast collection of classified documents to Israel.

In an interview with Israeli news channel ILTV on Sunday, Pollard called on Israel to wipe Iran “off the map” and identified Egypt and Turkey as its next major enemies.

“I hate to put it that way, but Turkey and Egypt are coming up next as our major strategic threat,” said Pollard.

Mystery swirled around a U.S. military transport aircraft that on Tuesday landed in Moscow, according to tracking data.

It was not known who was on board the plane and why it was in Russia. When asked, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he did not have information about the aircraft.

U.S. military officials, the White House, the U.S. embassy in Moscow and Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to questions about the flight’s mission.

Judge John Coughenour blocked Trump's birthright citizenship order from the bench and made national news doing it.

His next target was a mother with no way to fight back.

What he did next has parents across America demanding Trump act to save her.

In recent findings provided by the philanthropic practitioners of The Science™ that definitely have nothing to do with solidifying totalitarian control over the food supply in order to weaponize its against non-compliant serfs on the techno-plantation but rather borne out of altruistic concern for Mother Gaia, the UK Royal Society has concluded that, despite what common sense might indicate to the contrary, allowing egg-producing chickens to graze freely in pastures as they’ve done with great success for millennia is actually extremely harmful to the Earth Mother, as such activity produces a terrifying volume of carbon dioxide — the molecule that plants breathe and then convert into oxygen for humans to breathe in a deadly symbiotic interplay that The Science™ is determined to subvert.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has told Donald Trump to 'kiss my a**' and threatened to cut off America's electricity supply in response to the President's latest tariffs.

Ford said Canada should be ready to 'throw everything in the kitchen sink' at the US President as the trade war between the two neighbors intensified on Monday.

'He's arrogant. He's cocky,' Ford said in a radio interview just hours after Trump announced fresh tariffs targeting Canada's auto industry.

Ford warned that Ontario could cut off electricity exports if the President continued squeezing Canadian manufacturing.

'We power 1.5 million homes and businesses,' Ford told the Associated Press separately. 'Everything's on the table. I'll do whatever it takes.'