Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 56

20% Enrichment Sufficient to Make Nuclear Bomb

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Gordon Edwards

There is a lot of confusion about uranium enrichment in Iran.

In natural uranium, only 7 atoms out of 1000 are chain-reacting uranium-235. The other 993 atoms are, for the most part, uranium-238 atoms – not a chain-recating material. 

Uranium enrichment refers to any technology that increases the percentage of the chain-reacting U-235 beyond the 0.7% level (i.e.natural uranium). But there is a good deal of misinformation and/or misunderstanding about enriched uranium in the media recently.

 (1) Nuclear Explosions

It is often reported that 90% uranium enrichment is “needed” to have a nuclear weapon. This is not true. The Hiroshima bombs had only 80% enrichment. Iran has a good deal of 60% enriched uranium, and you can make a bomb from 60% enriched uranium — it would be bulkier than a bomb with 90% enrichment and therefore harder to deliver, but not so very much harder. 

Also, the mechanism needed for making a uranium bomb is very much easier than what is needed for a plutonium bomb. It can be done with a lot less effort and taking very little time. It’s called a “gun-type” atomic bomb rather than an “implosion-type” atomic bomb. 

The gun-type bomb just fires one chunk of uranium into another chunk (the target) so that the two chunks add up to more than a “critical mass”.  It is so simple it cannot possibly fail – as a result they never had to test this type of bomb before using it. They dropped it on the city of Hiroshima with no testing. There is a need for a precision timed “neutron source” but that is very old technology that has been well known for ages.

The implosion-type bomb is much more sophisticated, requiring a perfectly spherical shaped mass of plutonium metal surrounded by concentric plastic explosives to drive the sphere inward toward the centre – an “ implosion”.  That is so tricky it’s pretty well got to be tested before using. The USA tested it at Alamogordo before dropping it on the city of Nagasaki.

Nuclear non-proliferation authorities maintain that a powerful nuclear explosive device (gun-type) could be made with any uranium enriched to 20% or more. Such an explosive device would not have to be delivered by rocket or aeroplane, but could be delivered in the hull of a ship, or in a truck, or even in the trunk of a car, and detonated by remote control.

Independent experts now say the same is true of most HALEU (high-assay low-enriched uranium) enriched to more than 12% U-235. Although this reality is not officially acknowledged by regulators, it means that the fuel for some of the “fast” or “advanced” SMNRs being proposed — like the ARC [NB] or eVinci [Sask] or Natrium [Wyoming] reactors — is already weapons usable material, even though it is below the 20% enrichment level.

[…]

Via https://www.ccnr.org/Uranium_&_Plutonium_2022.pdf

Victory or Martyrdom: The Liberation of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) is Within Reach

Robert Inlakesh argues that “Israel’s” strike on Iran has backfired, triggering a broader regional war that could lead to the liberation of Al‑Quds.

Robert Inlakesh

The unprovoked war of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran may have set in motion a series of events that will lead to what has long been referred to as the “final war of liberation”. Although this may seem hyperbolic, if the war does not end soon, the only end is regime change in Iran or regime change in occupied Palestine.

The Zionist Entity appears to have fallen to its own propaganda and went too far with its attack on Iran, believing that what it sought to achieve would cripple the Iranian capability to quickly mount a solid response and lead to a somewhat limited exchange. It is clear that this was a catastrophic miscalculation.

Throughout the 20 months of genocide that have been inflicted against the people of Gaza, the Zionist regime has failed to find an image of victory. Despite inflicting occasional tactical defeats against the Palestinian Resistance, Iran’s IRGC and most notably Hezbollah, through assassinations and intelligence operations that use terrorist tactics, the Zionists hadn’t strategically defeated any of its opposition.

Instead, Hamas and all of the other Palestinian armed groups in Gaza are still alive and well. Hezbollah survived. Despite the existential threat posed to the Lebanese Party, they still managed to defeat the Israeli ground invasion of southern Lebanon under the worst possible circumstances. Yemen, on the other hand, forced the US military to back off and continued firing upon the Zionist regime on a daily basis in support of Gaza.

While failing to win on any front, the despicable slaughter of innocent people, most notably in Gaza, but also in Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, turned most of the global public against the Israeli regime. This, as the Zionist project saw the closure of tens of thousands of businesses, the loss of investments, the escape of around a million citizens, and a steep economic decline.

Combined with all of this, the regime’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, began purging all critical voices of his rule and replacing senior officials with yes men and personal allies. Meanwhile, cracks within Israeli society began growing and periodically causing bursts of unrest.

The Israeli military never actually went after Hamas and the Palestinian Resistance in Gaza on the ground. Until this day, there is virtually no footage showing Israelis carrying out close quarters offensive combat missions and clashing directly with Palestinian fighters. Instead, they hid like cowards in their armored military vehicles, rushed into areas to set up secure positions and used their Air Force as cover, only occasionally launching special forces operations.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian armed groups launched daring ambushes against the invading occupation forces, as the Israelis almost always concluded their “operation” with an invasion of a major hospital that they took over and used as a military base.

Instead of fighting head on like a real army, the Israeli participation trophy force – which grants 19-year-olds the rank of Sergeant – carried out a genocide instead. Their goal? To solve the Gaza question. By expelling and exterminating the civilian population, while making Gaza uninhabitable, they foolishly believed this would eventually lead to the collapse of the Resistance. To their surprise, the Resistance only recruited more into its ranks and, with limited means, continued to resist.

The Zionists briefly paused their genocide, but soon after violated the ceasefire they agreed upon, only to escalate their daily slaughter of civilians. “Operation Gideon’s Chariots” was sold to the Israeli public as “phase 2” of the war on Gaza, yet it quickly became clear that it was simply more of the same. The difference being that the highly degraded Israeli army now sought to use the so-called “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” to aid a new displacement and starvation agenda, while contracting ISIS-linked gangsters to do their dirty work for them.

In Syria, the Zionist Entity continued invading new territory in the south and frequently committed bombing campaigns throughout the country. This is despite the new Syrian leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, working with the Israelis on security coordination and even signaling his intent to normalize ties.

In Lebanon, the Zionist regime refused to leave the south and committed well over 3,000 violations of the ceasefire since November 27, 2024. It continued to kidnap Lebanese civilians, carry out assassinations, bombard the south, Beqaa Valley, and even occasionally strike civilian buildings in Beirut. Israeli drones and fighter jets roamed the skies of Lebanon every day, and the Lebanese Army did not resist them with a single bullet.

The unhinged settler-colonial entity made its expansionist endeavors crystal clear and its leader, Netanyahu, constantly mouthed off about “total victory” in a “seven front war”. Meanwhile, the United States and most Western European leaders stood by and watched it all happen, not even bothering to condemn, let alone halt all trade or apply sanctions.

The Israelis stood plausibly accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and its Prime Minister became a wanted war criminal by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Every major rights group, including B’Tselem, accused the Zionist entity of Genocide in Gaza. Millions around the world took to the streets, week-in week-out, pleading with their governments to take action. The students across North America and in different nations in Europe stood up, many sacrificing their degrees and possible future employment.

In the end, the Zionist Entity faced no real punishment from the so-called “international community”, beyond occasional statements and a few brave leaderships that took limited actions to impose a price.

What happened in the past 20 months is the death of International Law and Human Rights, these concepts now rest under the rubble of Gaza, along with the bodies of thousands of children who are yet to be recovered.

Iran finally took off the gloves

During this period of time, Iran received blow after blow. Its embassy in Damascus was bombed, Hamas leader Ismail Hanniyeh was assassinated in Tehran, and top IRGC officials were assassinated time and time again.

Then came the terrorist pager attacks in Lebanon, which injured thousands, including many civilians, and even killed women and children. The cornerstones of the West’s so-called “liberal free press” who we have been told uphold the gold standard of journalism? They praised the pager attack that even former CIA Director Leon Panetta called terrorism.

Donald Trump took office, his campaign bankrolled by a who’s who of Zionist billionaires like Miriam Adelson, then proceeded to threaten taking over Gaza and turning it into a sleazy ruling class casino. The unserious, mentally incompetent front man for the war machine only encouraged Israeli militaristic-adventurism further.

For some time, it appeared as if Gaza was going to be continuously crushed without anyone stepping in to stop it, beyond Yemen, which proved itself the only nation on earth to be dedicated enough to the cause of justice to wage a military intervention with its limited means from so far away. Fatigue and a sense of hopelessness swept its way across the region, especially after Hezbollah exited the fight.

But when all else seemed lost, one power remained standing in the way of the bloodthirsty Zionist regime’s plot, as its US allies frothed at the mouth, waiting to prey on the remains of the steadfast Palestinian people: that power was Iran.

The Israeli Miscalculation

When the Zionist regime launched its initial assault against Iran, it made a series of mistakes. The first was to target densely populated civilian areas, which caused horrifying scenes that will never leave the minds of the Iranian people: a toddler laying dead in the street and a mother trapped under the rubble, with countless civilians slaughtered in apartment complexes.

The second major mistake was the assumption that the assassinations of key IRGC leaders would put Iran into a state of confusion and temporarily incapacitate them. All the military contacts I spoke to at the time had given estimates that Iran would take 2-5 days to recover. To everyone’s surprise, Iran replaced its leaders, got its air defenses back online, and launched its first devastating missile strikes, all within 15 hours.

Another miscalculation was the obvious belief that the Islamic Republic could be depended upon to strike back in a limited and measured way. So far, it appears as if the only contingency in the event of what happened was to try and desperately pursue regime change as soon as possible.

The IRGC shook the entire world with their maximum impact strikes, followed by a strategy of draining the Israeli-Western-Arab air defenses guarding the Zionist Entity. Iran’s attacks were truly devastating and shocked even their most ardent supporters.

An issue which the Israelis now face is that even if there was to be a ceasefire signed tomorrow, their population will likely begin to flee, and their “security” myths will collapse. This will be the overarching message to the Israeli public, that you are surrounded by enemies who you cannot defeat and are still determined to end your ethno-supremacist regime.

Therefore, Benjamin Netanyahu quickly appeared to desperately shift to option two: regime change by any means. The Israelis even pulled out their pathetic weasley puppet, the son of the deposed Shah of Iran. This Zionist controlled collaborator has repeatedly released videos claiming that the Islamic Republic is falling apart, desperately trying to incite civil war in order to help the Zionist regime destroy his own nation. Yet, none of his speeches have led to even a single recorded protest inside Iran so far.

In fact, due to the brutal nature of the Israeli assault on Iran’s civilian areas, many Iranians who otherwise hate their government with a passion have sided with it against the Zionist regime’s brutality, understanding that the assault is aimed at destroying them.

[…]

All the so-called foreign policy experts were echoing the same sentiments, that they believed taking out the Iranian nuclear program could be achieved without triggering an all-out war. It is likely that what emboldened the Zionists to launch such a devastating attack on civilian areas in Tehran, was the belief that Iran would respond in a restrained way and practice the same “strategic patience” it has for decades.

If it also believes its own nonsense about “destroying Hezbollah” too, it will be in for an even bigger shock in the future.

[…]

The capture of Al-Quds?

If there is no ceasefire, which would be an acknowledgment of strategic defeat by the Israelis, the war will continue to escalate and drag on. Even with US involvement, it does not change this predicament, in fact, it only accelerates the process.

It would be foolish to assume that the Israelis don’t have more tricks up their sleeves, most likely involving Mossad operations, assassinations, and terrorist attacks. It could also launch hybrid warfare attacks and stir internal unrest. So, this should not be ruled out.

But one thing is for certain, this is the opportunity for everyone who was ever wronged by the Zionist Entity to rise up to the moment in history. Although the spark will be Iran’s missile strikes, defeating the Israelis completely is something that would have to be achieved on the ground.

When the Israeli air defenses are depleted and its air fields destroyed, greatly hindering the effectiveness of its air force, then a ground offensive from multiple fronts will succeed. Yet, such a ground offensive would have to be all out, with the objective of capturing occupied al-Quds. Hamas and Hezbollah would have to be the main actors in this ground war.

[…]

If the occupying entity was truly seeking its survival by any means, it would be begging for a ceasefire, in fact, it would never have attacked Iran illegally to begin with. Yet, arrogance got the better of it.

[…]

[…]

Via

‘Victory or Martyrdom’: The Liberation of Al-Quds is in Reach

NIH Ends Gain-Of-Function Research, Implementing Trump’s Executive Order

The president’s order was issued on May 5 of this year to improve the “safety and security of biological research.” 

Zero Hedge

The National Institute of Health (NIH) announced the end of gain-of-function research in a June 18 statement. The institute’s update said the move is in compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive order on the topic.

The agency is also suspending or terminating the awards that have supported this research, as the order requires. The awardees are required to review their research portfolios by June 30 to ensure the projects are terminated.

“NIH is requiring all NIH awardees to review their research portfolios to identify NIH funding and other support for projects meeting the definition of dangerous gain-of-function research,” the June 18 statement said

Trump’s Order

Trump’s May executive order concludes: “Dangerous gain-of-function research on biological agents and pathogens has the potential to significantly endanger the lives of American citizens.” Additionally, the order allowed for research agencies to find and end federal funding for other biological research that “could pose a threat to American public health, public safety, or national security.”

It also ended federal funding for gain-of-function research in countries of concern, such as China and Iran, and prohibited funding from moving to foreign research that would likely cause another pandemic.

According to the White House fact sheet, the order was given because “these measures will drastically reduce the potential for lab-related incidents involving gain-of-function research, like that conducted on bat coronaviruses in China by the EcoHealth Alliance and Wuhan Institute of Virology.”

The president’s order paused U.S. research that used infectious pathogens and toxins, citing possible danger to American citizens, until a time when a safer and more transparent plan can be implemented.

Both COVID-19 and the 1977 Russian flu were used as illustrations of the possible outcome of underregulated research with dangerous pathogens.

House Oversight Report

In December 2024, the Republican-led House Oversight Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released a 520-page report that was the end result of a two-year investigation, announcing that its findings indicated the COVID-19 virus likely originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.

The report found that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) was funded by the NIH and the EcoHealth Alliance Inc., which used U.S. taxpayer dollars to support the research at the lab. 

The committee said in its report that COVID-19 had biological characteristics not previously found in nature. According to the committee, the data reviewed indicated that all COVID-19 cases could be traced back to a single introduction into humans. This is different than previous pandemics, where there were multiple spillover events discovered.

“By nearly all measures of science, if there was evidence of a natural origin, it would have already surfaced,” the oversight subcommittee said in a statement.

The committee findings also cited a June 2023 Office of the Director of National Intelligence report that offered a similar conclusion, and went even further, stating, “Scientists at the WIV have created chimeras, or combinations of SARS-like coronaviruses through genetic engineering, attempted to clone other unrelated viruses, and used reverse genetic cloning techniques on SARS-like coronaviruses.”

During the investigation, the panel interviewed Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who left the role in December 2022.

According to the committee report, Fauci “prompted” a research study titled “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2,” for the purpose of disproving the theory of the pandemic originating via a lab leak. 

“Although Dr. Fauci believed the lab-leak theory to be a conspiracy theory at the start of the pandemic, it now appears that his position is that he does have an open mind about the origin of the virus—so long as it does not implicate EcoHealth Alliance, and by extension himself and NIAID,” it stated, citing Fauci’s memoir that was published weeks after the hearing.

More Changes

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which governs the NIH and other agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has made other significant changes. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy notified the 17 members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices on June 9 of their dismissal.

The panel was created by the CDC to provide advice about vaccines, including childhood and adult immunization schedules.

Members “are knowledgeable in the fields of immunization practices and public health, have expertise in the use of vaccines and other immunobiologic agents in clinical practice or preventive medicine, have expertise with clinical or laboratory vaccine research, or have expertise in assessment of vaccine efficacy and safety,” the committee’s charter says.

Kennedy spoke to reporters about the dismissals, saying that the new members would be credentialed scientists and doctors “who are going to do evidence-based medicine, who are going to be objective, and who are going to follow the science and make critical public health determinations for our children based upon the best science.”

[…]

Via https://www.zerohedge.com/political/nih-ends-gain-function-research-implementing-trumps-executive-order

Did We Erase a Century of Medical Evidence on Vaccine-Induced Brain Damage

A Midwestern Doctor

Story at-a-glanceNeurological injuries from vaccination have been documented since the smallpox vaccine over two centuries ago, with severe injuries reported throughout medical literatureThe medical profession concealed these injuries, believing public vaccination benefits justified hiding information that might create vaccine hesitancyHistorical injuries like spreading paralysis mirror current “one in a million” vaccine injuries, but toxicity documentation was erased to preserve the “safe and effective” narrativeIn the past, these injuries were widely reported, but now research into them is widely censoredMany of these forgotten reports are critical for understanding modern “inexplicable” conditions like autism

From birth, we are taught that vaccines were one of the most remarkable discoveries in history, and were so safe and effective that many now unimaginable plagues vanished with few to no side effects occurring in the process. In truth, give or take, every part of that mythology is false, and remarkably similar vaccine disasters occur every few decades.

Much of this results from the fact that it is very difficult to produce safe vaccines due to both their mode of action and the methods used in their production. As such, the best “solution” which could be found to this problem was to insist in lockstep that vaccines were safe and erase any memory that vaccine disasters had in fact occurred, thereby making it possible to gaslight anyone who was severely injured by a vaccine and claim their injury was just anecdotal or a product of anti-vaccine hysteria.

For example, recently I discussed how vaccines cause autism, and focused on a central argument used to debunk the link between the two — that the only reason people believe vaccines cause autism is because a disgraced British doctor published a fraudulent 1998 study claiming they did and then made everyone start hallucinating that vaccine injuries were occurring.

This mythology however, ignores that brain injuries were a longstanding problem of vaccination. For example, a 1982 NBC news program (which can be viewed here) revealed that many parents were having children develop “post-pertussis encephalopathy” after taking the DPT vaccine, that most doctors refused to report this, and that:

“Medical knowledge about severe reactions to the whooping cough vaccine goes back to the early 1930s. Report after report has been published in medical journals since then. In 1948,1 two American doctors reported on case histories of many children who had been brain damaged or died from DPT vaccines in Boston. The following year,2 another doctor surveyed pediatricians across the country and found still more. Those studies have been forgotten.”

Likewise, in 1985, one of the most popular talk shows in America (the Donahue show) hosted a segment where doctors from both sides (and neurologically injured members of the audience) debated the risks and benefits of vaccination and the ethics of mandates (which can be viewed here). To the best of my knowledge, this was the last time an open debate of vaccination aired on mainstream television.

Diagnostic Obfuscation

In both of these 1980s TV programs and many of the earlier studies on vaccine injuries, the brain damaged children were described as becoming “mentally retarded” or “severely retarded.” However, in the 1990s, “retarded” began to be phased out due to it being deemed too stigmatizing, with Obama, in 2010 signing a law3 that replaced all instances in Federal statutes of “mentally retarded” and “mental retardation” with “intellectual disability.”

This is important as it is commonly argued that the increase in autism is not due to an environmental toxin (e.g., vaccines) but rather more and more “normal” things being reclassified as autism. One of the primary studies that supported the reclassification argument, is a 2009 study4 from California that actually showed 26.4% of children who had previously been diagnosed as “mentally retarded” became “autistic” (as did another commonly cited study).5

Since autism is deliberately undefined, it encapsulates both profound (severe) autism (25% to 30% of cases) and autistic traits (e.g., having manageable neurological deficits or “being on the spectrum”). This wordplay hence blends them together, making it possible to slander statements on severe autism6 while simultaneously tricking people into believing the increase is actually just in autistic quirks.

However, as the CDC shows, roughly 26.7% of children7 have “profound autism,” and is continually increasing:

Likewise, when the 1986 Vaccine Injury Act8 was passed, it acknowledged a few specific neurological injuries9 that were frequently seen from vaccines, one of which was encephalopathy from MMR (which is now labeled as “autism” and “not caused by vaccines”).

Remarkably, despite twelve new vaccines and decades of science since 1986, almost no additional neurological injuries have been added to the table10 (as there is a massive conflict of interest in acknowledging the injury and thus the government having to pay for it).

In tandem, research into vaccine neurological injuries was systematically prevented. Placebo-controlled trials were deemed “unethical,” while research showing harms was dismissed as “junk science” for lacking placebo controls. When researchers conducted studies anyway, data was blocked from publication and researchers faced retaliation (e.g., an Oregon pediatrician lost his license11). These studies (summarized here) showed massive increases in chronic illness. Our society did too:

Likewise, large databases containing vaccinated and unvaccinated data were withheld from researchers and remarkably when RFK’s team gained access, HHS employees illegally deleted the database.12

The Hazards of Immunization

In 1966, an eminent bacteriologist wrote “The Hazards of Immunization”13 which disclosed a large number of forgotten vaccine disasters he’d collected (both through his team surveying the medical literature and insiders sharing their private files with him) in the hope it could lead to safer vaccines as the same disasters kept on repeating and would likely continue to do so unless his profession acknowledged those risks.

In his compilation of vaccine injuries (which he felt represented less than 1% of them) he highlighted many devastating injuries (many of which happened to soldiers) that we continue to see today. Some of the key themes he covered included:

• How many vaccines have been shown to cause immune suppression and makes latent infections become severe and hence suddenly appear.

• How the mentality behind manufacturing vaccines makes hot lots almost unavoidable and has led to many vaccine disasters throughout history — a problem which was sadly “solved” by simply giving vaccine manufacturers immunity from injury lawsuits.

• That a wide range of autoimmune and neurological injuries were caused by each vaccine and antiserum.

What follows is a small sampling of the forgotten neurologic vaccine injuries Wilson shared:

• Typhoid vaccine — In the pre-antibiotic era, the typhoid vaccine was essential for militaries and tolerated despite its frequent complications. Many of these were of the conditions (i.e., Landry’s paralysis) we now refer to as Guillain-Barré syndrome (e.g., one of Guillain and Barré’s first GBS cases came from a typhoid vaccine).14 Reports included:

◦ Polyneuritis with15 shoulder pain spreading to knees, leading to disturbed sensation, balance problems, and ongoing pain (1916).

◦ A soldier becoming blind16 for 10 days, and another developing convulsions (1919).

◦ 10 cases with severe17 headaches, seizures, paralysis, and one fatal GBS-like case (1920).

◦ Over 50 neurological18 injuries including nerve inflammation and widespread nerve damage (1954).

◦ Numerous other cases of paralysis or GBS, sometimes diagnosed as polio,19,20,21 including one where autopsy showed widespread brain destruction.22

[…]

• Yellow fever — Hot yellow fever vaccines neurologic injuries were reported throughout the literature:

◦ A fatal 1934 case25 began with neurological symptoms, progressing to paralysis and death 14 months later. Autopsy showed extensive myelin degeneration and brain cell changes. Many similar cases were also reported.

◦ A 1936 case26 where vaccination caused acute meningitis, seizures, and mental confusion, with another paper revealing27 the lot caused nervous disturbance in at least three others.

◦ A 1936 report28 found that a third of 5,699 recipients had reactions, including severe neurologic or visceral ones.

◦ A 1943 report29 showed one lot caused 1.65% of recipients to develop encephalitis, while another caused 0.06% along with a 1953 paper30 that found 0.3% to 0.4% did (of whom 40% then died).

◦ A 1953 WHO report31 documented 12 encephalitis cases with 3 deaths in Costa Rica, 83 cases with 32 deaths in Nigeria, and 254 cases in Brazil.

• Rabies — It was not long after the Pasteurian method was taken into routine use that attention was drawn to cases of neuroparalysis. Among the directors of the Pasteur Institutes there was a conspiracy of silence, caused by fear of bringing Pasteur’s method into disrepute.

It was difficult to find a vaccine dose strong enough to prevent rabies but weak enough not to cause paralysis. Rabies vaccine injuries averaged a 10% to 16.85% fatality rate and were one of four types:32

◦ Dorsolumbar myelitis (most common, 5% fatality rate)

◦ Encephalomyelitis (second most common, 5% fatality rate)

◦ GBS (30% fatality rate)

◦ Peripheral neuritis affecting cranial nerves

As these injuries were often underreported, their incidence widely varied between studies:

• Measles — A 1966 case33 occurred in a 14-month-old who developed encephalitis 11 days after vaccination, first showing facial twitching, then fever, stopped eating, and became semi-conscious. By day 15, the child had weakness on the left side and frequent severe seizures. After four months, the child still had left-sided weakness and possible mental impairment.

• Vaccine caused “polio” — Multiple papers from 1950 to 1956 found vaccination significantly increased polio risk. These included a 1950 paper34 (82 cases), another 1950 paper35 (14 cases), a 1952 paper36 (53 cases), and a 1956 report37 (355 cases).

◦ A 1950 statistical analysis38 by the epidemiologist39 who created standards for establishing causality found vaccination links. A 1952 paper40 found vaccination doubled polio risk.

◦ In 1956,41 a committee concluded 13% of paralysis in young children were causally related to vaccines:

• Diphtheria — Most reported diphtheria vaccine injuries came from hot vaccine lots:

◦ A 1919 Dallas incident42 involving several hundred doses where 8.33% died, with third-week paralysis throughout the body

◦ A 1924 Massachusetts incident43 severely injured 43 of 54 recipients

◦ A 1927 U.S.S.R incident44 where 12 of 14 children died from progressive paralytic disorder

• Pertussis — There is no doubt that [the] pertussis vaccine is one of the most toxic vaccines in current general use. In trials45 about 70% suffered reactions. Between 1958 to 1965, seven fatal cases of encephalitis from DPT were recorded. Other key findings include:

◦ The 1933 case46 of an infant seized by convulsions thirty minutes after injection and dying within two minutes

◦ A 1948 report47 detailed 15 cases with convulsions — two died, five had paralysis, two had severe brain damage

◦ A 1949 report48 documented 38 severe reactions, mostly convulsions, with at least two fatal

◦ A 1953 article49 contained 84 brain-related issues with 11 deaths and 24 permanent complications

◦ A 1958 report50 found 1 in 3,000 DPT recipients developed convulsions

◦ A 1958 review51 of 107 cases found 15% died, 30% had long-term complications

◦ A 1961 study52 of 1,700 successive infants where 40 rapidly developed reactions such as severe local/general reactions, generalized eczema (delayed onset), macular rash, persistent vomiting, persistent uncontrollable screaming, or collapse

• Smallpox — Wilson considered smallpox vaccines to have the highest complication rate. Post-vaccinal encephalomyelitis had a 35% mortality rate, with over 50% of infants under two dying on the first day.

Wilson pooled studies from 8 million people finding 0.0015% to 0.0754% developed encephalomyelitis, while 0.0063% of 18 million developed encephalitis. He reviewed 2,398 cases with 34% fatality rates. Notable reports include:

◦ A 1926 report53 of pathology findings from seven deaths

◦ A 1948 report54 documented 222 severe cases including 110 deaths

◦ A 1956 German report55 found animal production methods increased post-vaccine encephalitis 4 to 6 times

◦ A 1961 report56 of 265 autopsy-proven cases found symptoms emerged 4 to 18 days later

[…]

Vaccine Induced Microstrokes

The following qualities stand out in all of Wilson’s reports:

• In many cases, the damage in the brain occurred without a virus being present, yet many of the observed pathological changes mirrored what was seen in certain severe viral infections.

• Frequently edema, and sometimes blood cell congestion were observed.

• Cranial nerve deficits were often observed.

• Congestion was often seen in other parts of the body.60

• Some cell death in the brain appeared to come from a lack of blood flow to the surrounding tissue.

• Small hemorrhages were observed from leaking blood vessels.

Each of these can be explained through vaccine induced microstrokes (triggered by zeta potential changes which cause blood cells to electrically clump together).

[…]

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2025/06/20/forgotten-history-neurological-vaccine-injuries.aspx

Israel’s Attack on Iran Has Failed

By Dmitry Orlov

There are lots of journalists attempting to offer play-by-play coverage of the Israel-Iran war. There is also no shortage of commentators willing to offer opinions on the Israeli attack on Iran and on Iran’s response and some even venture to predict its outcome. I, for one, am willing to step back and let events unfold. Meanwhile, here are some similarities and differences to consider, just in case you decide to choose sides in this conflict based on hard data rather than propaganda or whim.

Iran and Israel are the last two theocracies left on the planet. (Vatican is a theocracy but is not a nation and so doesn’t count.) Iran is an Islamic Republic presided over by an ayatollah and as such is a throwback to an era a few centuries back. Israel is an ethno-religious state that defines itself as a “Jewish state,” jewishness being simultaneously an ethnicity and a religion. As such, it is a throwback to an era a few millennia back when tribal gods, like the Jewish god Jehova, were all the rage. This makes the Israeli-Iranian war something like a dinosaur fight: two anachronistic relicts going at each other, but not with fangs and claws (or spears and swords) but with high-tech drones and rockets (it is, after all,the 21st century). The vast majority of the world’s population, who believe in secular rule, freedom of religion (even for Jews) and the separation of church and state should be forgiven if they decide to just hang back and have these two political living fossils mutually annihilate.

But that’s where the similarities end. The differences, on the other hand, are quite stark. Iran does not possess nuclear weapons. It is a party to the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty). It allows IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities. It reports on the movement of enriched uranium. And for all of that, it is under constant international pressure and sanctions and declared a threat just for the purely theoretical potential ability to create nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, Iranian nuclear engineers are working under a “fatwa” (a religious pronouncement having the force of law) that makes nuclear weapons “haram” — forbidden.

Turning now to Israel: it possesses a nuclear arsenal estimated between 80 and 200 warheads. These are some decades old and may no longer be effective due to the effects of radioactive decay. Israel has not signed the NPT, does not allow international inspectors and keeps its nuclear program completely secret. But instead of constant international pressure and sanctions it receives support and military assistance from the West. Moreover, Western leaders facetiously declare it to be a “stronghold of democracy” and allegedly a victim.

Let’s not be silly and run around with our hair on fire at any mention of “nuclear weapons.” These weapons are extremely useful for keeping the peace — provided they remain under strictest control and (here’s the key proviso) are never-ever-ever used. Having nuclear weapons is one thing, and quite acceptable given a reasonable set of conditions; using nuclear weapons is strictly forbidden and automatically makes you a war criminal and subject to destruction — with nuclear weapons if need be. The US committed the grand faux pas when it dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, earning Harry Truman a spot on frying pan number one in a whole new Circle of Hell (if all goes well, he will remain its only resident for all of eternity).

As far as keeping the peace, nukes are most effective. Just get yourself a few nukes, and everyone will be afraid to touch you. The worst position to be in is to have a nuclear program and allow yourself to be convinced not to develop a nuke. Muammar Qaddafy opted to give up his nuclear program and ended up killed and his Libya destroyed. Kim Jong Il made no such error, developed and tested some nukes, his son Kim Jong Un built some rockets that can fly them to California, and now he can afford to return Donald Trump’s rose-scented love letters unopened and suffer no consequences.

Iran did the stupidest thing possible, which is to have a nuclear program with uranium enrichment centrifuges that have been coming tantalizingly close to achieving U235 concentrations high enough to make a bomb but being coy and declining to actually pull out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and make a few nukes. The reason is the aforementioned “fatwa”. It may seem highly moral to the faithful followers of an ayatollah, but it looks highly suspicious from the point of view of anyone else actually involved in nuclear politics. It is doubly suspicious behavior in a country whose leaders continue to repeat the mantra “Death to Israel” — Israel, which, quite incidentally, does have nuclear weapons.

Israel developed its first nuclear weapons in 1966-67 in collaboration with South Africa: these two Apartheid states working together was a match made in hell. South Africa had the uranium ore while Israel had the brains. South Africa gave up on its nuclear weapons program in 1989, making it the only nation to develop nuclear weapons and then give them up while Israel never confessed to having nuclear weapons but has escaped international scrutiny because that would be “antisemitism”.

And so a danger remains that as Israel becomes sufficiently degraded by Iranian rocket strikes, it opts out to strike out using its nuclear weapons like a cornered rat. However, the plutonium cores in its plutonium-based bombs (plutonium having been produced at the Negev Nuclear Research Center near Dimona by irradiating natural South African uranium in a heavy-water-moderated reactor) are now close to 60 years old and plutonium has a tendency to go bad over time, accumulating isotopes that make the weapon both dangerous and unreliable. The rockets for delivering these bombs are also somewhat uncertain. That’s all the good news.

But back to what has been happening since Friday the 13th a week ago. At this point, the IAEA and its hysterically blind leader Rafael Grossi, along with 18 US intelligence agencies, have conceded that Iran does not have nuclear weapons or an active nuclear weapon development program. However, that is not stopping Donald Trump from thinking that it does, nor is that likely to deter permanent Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahoo from claiming that Iran is days or weeks away from developing a nuclear weapon, as he has been saying for the past four decades. Clearly, these two need a good, solid reason to attack Iran, facts be damned. Why?

To simplify, let’s not consider that Israel has any prerogatives separately from the US. It is simply a Middle Eastern colonial outpost, similar to the The Kingdom of Jerusalem, a.k.a. the Crusader Kingdom — a Crusader state established in the Levant after the First Crusade. It held together for close to two centuries, lasting from 1099 to 1291. It seems unlikely that the current Kingdom of Jerusalem will last as long. It is already the longest military occupation in modern history, and military occupations are notoriously expensive and unsustainable over the long run. Specifically, the Israeli project is unsustainable without US support, and the US is running out of money to support itself, never mind useless hangers-on like Israel or Ukraine.

And so Trump ordered Israel to attack Iran. Why? And why now? The reason Trump saw this attack as attractive is that the Israelis convinced him that the plan stood a good chance of victory. They had it all arranged, they thought. They worked on this plan for years: they recruited, they infiltrated, they brought in and assembled attack drones, they spotted all the locations where Iran’s government and military officials could be found sleeping in their beds and they had jets and air tankers ready to swarm in and knock out (or so they thought) Iranian air defenses and ballistic rockets. They even had the son of Shah Reza Pahlavi, the old American Iranian puppet leader, pop out of a hole in the ground and, like a good hereditary puppet, standing by to have Uncle Sam’s firm hand inserted from behind.

And the reason Trump thought that this plan was necessary was that he needed a military victory to balance out the military defeat in the Ukraine. He performed a rather theatrical pivot at the G7 (G6?) meeting in Canada, which he left early to pointedly avoid encountering the Ukrainian no-longer-president Zelensky (whom he detests) and to attend an urgent meeting in the White House Situation Room on the subject of the Israel-Iran war. As he boarded Air Force One, perhaps he was humming to himself Queen’s “We are the champions”: “No time for losers ‘Cause we are the champions of the world.”

Trump did what he could to soften up the Iranians prior to the attack. He beguiled them by pretending to be negotiating one of his famous “deals” with them, giving them no reason to think that a sudden sneak attack was coming. As a result, the Iranian military was not in their command bunkers and battle stations but sleeping in their beds with their wives, making easy targets for the Israeli drones. Nevertheless, the Iranian military and government structures proved resilient enough to be up and running some hours after their top commanders were taken out. The Israelis did knock out some air defense systems (Iran had quite a lot of them but they weren’t quite up to date) and lots of dummy jets, rocket launchers and other supposed military junk hammered together out of sticks and plywood.<

And then the real action started. Iran has many kilometers of tunnels hidden deep underground and stocked with thousands of rockets that can reach Israel. There are some old, simpler rockets that are intended to deplete Israel’s air defense systems. Already the US is struggling to resupply Israel with whatever air defense rockets they can scrounge but they are clearly in very short supply already. There are also some modern hypersound rockets that no air defense system can stop. Iran launches two rocket attacks a day and doesn’t seem at all eager to stop.

And now let’s consider the two opponents. Israel is a postage stamp-sized country of just 3920km2 (after subtracting occupied West Bank, Gaza and Negev Desert) and hosting around 10 million inhabitants. Iran is a huge country of 1,600,000 km2 and over 90 million inhabitants. Iran is not a country that can be conquered using aerial bombardment and neither Israel nor the US, nor all of NATO has the ability, or the willingness, to mount a ground invasion. Israel, on the other hand, can be made unlivable quite readily using some finite number of rocket strikes.

First, Israel is not self-sufficient in anything except rocks and sand and is dependent on a constant flow of imports through its one major airport (Ben Gurion) and three major seaports (Haifa, Ashdod, and Eilat). Eilat, on the Red Sea, has been all but shut down for Israel-bound traffic by those frisky Houthis of Yemen. Haifa has been shut down by Iranian rockets. Ashdod remains in operation, but for how long? Second, Israel is so small that it has just one or two of each: one oil refinery, just four power plants over one megawatt, and so on down the target list. Iran has many times more rockets than it would take to make Israel completely unlivable: no electricity, no sewage treatment, no pumped water, no gas, no gasoline or diesel.

It is to early to call the outcome, which depends on what happens first: will Iran run out of rockets or will Israel run out of important targets for Iran to destroy. But it is already safe to say that Israel’s Blitzkrieg attack on Iran has failed. US military’s entry into the conflict remains the wild card, but given its unpopularity among Americans, illegality (without congressional approval) and slim chances of success, it does not appear likely.

[…]

Via https://boosty.to/cluborlov/posts/f36a100d-bf25-49cc-b8b4-c1df492504b2?from=email_new_post_digest

A Short History of Nearly Everything

A Short History of Nearly Everything

By Bill Bryson (2004)

A Black Book

Book Review

PDF: A Short History of Nearly Everything

This book takes on the mammoth task of summarizing all the significant discoveries in all significant areas of modern science.

Bryon begins with the creation of the universe, which based on calculations from a 1994 satellite probe, occurred 137 billion years ago. In 2003, when this book was published, cosmologists had already discarded the Big Bang Theory. As of 20 years ago, according to Bryson, the universe came into being when an infinitesimally small speck of matter/energy suddenly expanded massively in all directions (an expansion which continues to the present day).

The sun formed 4.6 billion years ago, the earth 4.5 billion million years ago and the moon 4.4 billion years ago, when a flying object the size of Mars crashed into the Earth.

In 1769, British explorer Captain James Cook made it possible to calculate the Earth’s distance from the sun during his sea voyage to Tahiti to observe the Transit of Venus (in front of the sun). This enabled him to calculate the earth-sun distance via triangulation (150 million kilometers).

Bryson describes in detail the 18th century chemistry revolution, which led ultimately to the industrial revolution; the discovery of the Earth’s radioactive elements (enabling  calculation of the Earth’s age via radioactive decay); and the discovery of relativity, quantum mechanics, quarks, neutrinos and other subatomic particles.

He then devotes several chapters to important discoveries in geology and climatology. He includes a discussion of magnetism (which doesn’t occur in bodies lacking a liquid core, ie the moon and Mars) and its role in protecting life from the devastating effect of cosmic rays that would otherwise bombard the Earth. He also discusses the important role of the moon in helping the earth to continue spinning at the appropriate angle to support life.

According to Bryson the first hominid species (Australopithicus) appeared seven million years ago. He asserts they began walking upright with the loss of their jungle habitat after continental drift filled in Panama’s isthmus, disrupting ocean currents that previous warmed the Arctic. The resulting cooling caused northern Africa to transition from jungle to savanna and desert.

Two million years ago the hominid brain started to expand and Homo erectus (with a 50% larger brain) appeared. Their descendant subsequently migrating out of Africa to inhabit territory extending from the Atlantic coast of Europe to the Pacific cost of China.

100 to 250 thousand years ago, Homo sapiens appeared in Africa and undertook a similar global migration. The oldest Homo sapiens remains were discovered in modern day Israel and date from 100,000 years ago.

Cannabis extract proves to be highly effective at killing disease carrying mosquitoes

By Eric Ralls

Every year, mosquito-borne diseases cut short more than a million lives across the globe, outpacing every other animal threat to humanity. The rising toll has public-health teams scrambling for fresh combat tools, especially as traditional chemical sprays lose their edge.

That loss stems from two hard truths. First, the very pyrethroid insecticides that once worked wonders now linger in soil and water, nudging delicate ecosystems off balance.

Second, mosquitoes adapt fast. Larvae soaking in tainted puddles and adults drifting through treated neighborhoods increasingly shrug off doses that once killed them.

Controlling the pests at their waterborne stage is vital, yet options that stay potent without harming everything else remain limited.

Cannabis, CBD, and mosquitoes

Recent research published in the journal Insects points to a solution hiding in plain sight: the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa.

After air-drying and grinding ordinary hemp leaves, scientists at The Ohio State University led by Erick Martinez Rodriguez extracted cannabidiol (CBD) and added the concentrate to cups of water teeming with yellow fever mosquito larvae.

Within 48 hours, both a strain that laughs at common insecticides and a non-resistant strain were wiped out.

“Mosquitoes are one of the deadliest animals in the world, mainly because as adults they serve as vectors of disease,” Rodriguez explained.

From resistance to vulnerability

Two important findings jumped out. The first was total mortality: every mosquito larva exposed to sufficient CBD died by the two-day mark, regardless of its genetic armor.

The second was efficiency. While industrial chemicals often push resistance higher with every generation, CBD’s effect cut straight through those defenses. Doses varied, but even modest concentrations proved lethal to all mosquito larvae.

“If you compare the amount of hemp extract needed to kill 50 % of the population to other synthetic conventional insecticides, it is on the high side, but when you compare it side by side to other natural extracts we have tested in our lab, only a relatively low amount is required to produce high mortality values in larvae,” said Martinez Rodriguez.

How CBD kills mosquitoes

Chemical sleuthing showed that CBD dominated the hemp extract, and terpene fractions did little damage on their own.

Larvae were judged dead once they stopped moving under a gentle nudge, confirming the cannabinoid’s direct impact on vital systems.

Insects lack the endocannabinoid receptors that give CBD its wellness reputation among humans, so the compound must strike different molecular targets – possibly ion channels that govern nerve impulses or enzymes tied to muscle control.

Whatever the route, CBD skirts the metabolic tricks that shield many larvae from pyrethroids.

Hemp economics meet public health

Hemp is no niche crop. U.S. farmers planted about 27,680 acres in 2023, and the total value of hemp products topped $291 million.

Leaves, often left as low-value waste after flowers and seeds are harvested, could become raw material for larvicides.

Turning those leaf cast-offs into mosquito-control pellets would give growers an extra revenue stream while trimming refuse piles.

The crop’s adaptability sweetens the deal. Hemp thrives across a wide climate range, grows quickly, and rarely needs harsh pesticides of its own.

Rural communities looking to diversify incomes and urban growers cultivating indoor micro-hemp could both feed a supply chain aimed at vector-control programs from Texas to Tanzania.

Strains and waterway safety

Field trials must still answer hard questions: How long does CBD linger in ponds? Does it bother tadpoles, fish fry, or helpful insects?

Early lab work hints at selectivity, yet natural habitats are complex. Regulators will demand data showing that CBD pellets, briquettes, or slow-release films silence mosquito larvae without tipping aquatic ecosystems.

A second layer of testing will match different hemp strains for efficacy. Plants bred for fiber deliver more stalk than cannabinoid, while floral varieties boast richer CBD profiles.

Selecting cultivars that maximize larvicidal punch and minimize unwanted compounds will keep costs down and environmental margins wide.

Next steps for CBD and mosquito control

Scientists plan to refine dosage, explore formulations that stick to the water’s surface, and probe how CBD interacts with other biocontrol measures like Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis. Combining modes of action could slow resistance even further.

Teams will also map out manufacturing pipelines – picture hemp-leaf extract concentrated at regional facilities, then shipped as shelf-stable granules to mosquito-control districts.

Policy makers, meanwhile, need clear guidelines. Approving a botanical larvicide means balancing urgent disease threats against conservation goals. Transparent monitoring and community engagement will help keep public trust.

Another weapon in the mosquito wars

Hemp-derived CBD will not single-handedly end malaria, dengue, or Zika. Yet the discovery that a familiar wellness compound doubles as a larval assassin widens the playbook.

By uniting agriculture, chemistry, and entomology, researchers have opened a practical path toward safer mosquito control.

If larger-scale tests confirm the promise seen in the lab, those humble hemp leaves could soon guard countless backyard birdbaths, drainage ditches, and rice paddies – one cup of water at a time.

The full study was published in the journal Insects.

Israel Running Low On Missile Interceptors As Iran Proves A Stronger Foe Than Expected

Interceptor missiles in the sky over Tel Aviv during an early-Wednesday Iranian barrage (Leo Correa via Associated Press)

Zero Hedge

Following multiple rounds of Iranian missile barrages that have proven far more effective than many “experts” anticipated, the Israeli Defense Forces are already running low on defensive Arrow interceptor missiles, making Israel all the more desperate for the United States to join the war Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government initiated on Friday the 13th. Meanwhile, as Iran’s retaliation continues, reports of war-fatigue among Israel’s population are already emerging.

Against that backdrop, President Trump has been dialing up the intensity of his rhetoric as he pushes Iran to capitulate to demands that it cease all uranium enrichment — a demand that Iran has long ruled out as a violation of its sovereignty, while insisting its nuclear program isn’t focused on creating a weapon. The US intelligence community assessed that to be true in March. “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” exclaimed Trump in a terse Tuesday social media post. Trump, who spoke with Netanyahu by phone on Tuesday, is considering options that include a US strike on Iran, the Wall Street Journal reports.  As his deliberations continue — while some members of Congress are backing a resolution that would bar a US attack without congressional authorization — the Pentagon continues shifting a variety of assets toward the region. The DOD insists they’re for defensive use, which includes shielding Israel from the consequences of starting a war with Iran.

According to an individual briefed on US and Israeli intelligence, Israel is on pace to run out of defensive missiles in 10 to 12 days. “They will need to select what they want to intercept,” that person told the Washington Post. “The system is already overwhelmed.” Arrow interceptors are manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries. The United States has been pushing other missile defense assets into Israel over the last week, but the Wall Street Journal reports that practice is already raising concerns about the effect on US military readiness.

“Neither the U.S. nor the Israelis can continue to sit and intercept missiles all day,” Tom Karako of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) told the Journal. “The Israelis and their friends need to move with all deliberate haste to do whatever needs to be done, because we cannot afford to sit and play catch.” (CSIS is funded in part by the US government and major weapons manufacturers.) According to Israeli financial newspaper The Marker, the ongoing missile defense is costing Israel about $285 million a night, though ZeroHedge readers will reasonably brace for the day that American taxpayers are presented with the bill.

Even ahead of running out of interceptors, Israel is struggling to consistently defend its citizens and assets from Iran’s arsenal, and especially its cutting-edge hypersonic missiles. Videos of the missiles repeatedly hammering Israel have been making jaws drop around the world and across social media since Iran began retaliating for Israel’s unprovoked launch of a war on Iran.

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said that strikes over Tuesday night used “a new advanced missile.” According to state media, the first-generation Fattah hypersonic ballistic missile has a two-stage solid-fuel system, a 1,400-kilometer range, a top speed of Mach 13-15, and a maximum time-to-target of just 336 seconds. Claiming it repeatedly and easily penetrated Israel’s defenses, the IRGC boasted that “tonight’s missile strike demonstrated that we have achieved total control over the skies of the occupied territories.”

Of course, there’s also the question of how long Iran’s inventory of offensive missiles can last — but it’s far from clear how much of the arsenal remains after accounting for missiles already launched and others destroyed by Israeli strikes. Iran’s pace of strikes has reportedly eased over the past two nights. “Iran has to make a very, very difficult calculation, because they have a limited amount of missiles, and considering the rate of fire, they cannot replenish in real time,” said International Institute for Strategic Studies analyst Fabian Hinz told the Post.  Working to accelerate the math to Iran’s detriment, Israel said it struck missile factories on Tuesday, along with a centrifuge production center.

As Israel runs low on defensive missiles, the Israeli population is already running low on the psychological wherewithal to carry on in the face of a level of bombardment the country hasn’t seen in a generation. Dozens have been killed and several hundred wounded, alongside startling destruction of government buildings, apartment towers and power plants. In a quote that echoes the desperation of Palestinian and other populations on the receiving end of IDF destruction, Israeli nurse and mother Ella Keren told the Post, “The fact that you don’t know if the missiles are about to fall on you, that we are now living with this feeling of helplessness, it’s insane.” Weary of the nightly blasts and hours spent in bomb shelters, some Israelis are opting to leave Tel Aviv to seek refuge in the relatively safer suburbs and countryside.

[…]

Via https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israel-running-low-missile-interceptors-iran-proves-stronger-foe-expected

Pakistan breaks ranks, backs Iran in war with Israel

Photo Credit: The Cradle

F.M. Shakil

Pakistan reveals that Israeli drone operators attempted to sabotage Pakistan’s nuclear facilities during the India-Pakistan crisis in May. This is a major reason why Islamabad is throwing its full weight behind Tehran in the Israel-Iran war.

Despite Islamabad’s official denials of providing military or material support to Iran in its confrontation with Israel, recent developments suggest a dramatic shift in regional alignments. Today, Pakistan and China appear to be coordinating closely with Tehran, offering tangible strategic advantages as Tel Aviv escalates its hostilities.

As war clouds gathered, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held urgent discussions with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on 14 June. That same day, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who expressed Islamabad’s “resolute solidarity” with Iran. He also added that the country “stands firmly with the Iranian people in this critical hour.”

China and Pakistan’s role

In the immediate aftermath, reports emerged of Pakistani military delegations arriving in Tehran amid the hostilities. Although swiftly denied by Islamabad, the timing and context fuel speculation of deeper collaboration. Similarly, Beijing reportedly greenlit the transfer of its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) technology to Iran, formalized in a new bilateral MoU – an upgrade that dramatically enhanced the precision of Iranian missile strikes.

Though Pakistan continues to reject claims of missile transfers to Iran, its stance in recent days paints a different picture. On 16 June, members of the Iranian parliament chanted “Thank you, thank you Pakistan” following remarks by Pezeshkian, who praised Pakistan for standing by Iran. These developments fly in the face of Pakistan’s non-alignment rhetoric and indicate an ideological and strategic realignment by Islamabad.

It was only early last year that Iran launched missile and drone strikes into Pakistan’s Balochistan region on 16 January, targeting extremist militant group Jaish al-Adl positions. Pakistan retaliated two days later on 18 January, conducting air and missile strikes into Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province in an operation dubbed Marg Bar Sarmachar. The tit-for-tat was remarkably friendly in the final analysis, and appears to have settled some critical border cooperation issues between the two states.

The fact that these former adversaries – who had just engaged in direct military exchanges – have now adopted “resolute solidarity” is nothing short of breathtaking.

Beijing’s embrace of Iran is grounded in energy security and strategic depth instead. Its ambitious, multi-trillion dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aimed at linking the Eurasian landmass hinges on the stability of Tehran and Islamabad, with the Gwadar and Chahbahar ports forming key arteries in China’s westward expansion.

China also supplies J-10 fighter jets and HQ‑9 air‑defense systems to Pakistan, which played key roles in the extraordinary May 2025 skirmish between India and Pakistan – marking major testing ground for Chinese weapons. A parallel circumstance is present in Iran. China must acknowledge Iran because it is a crucial supporter of China’s energy needs and trade operations.

“The enemy of my friend is my enemy” may well define the new tripartite logic binding Iran, Pakistan, and China in resistance to Israeli and western designs.

Colonial ambitions and nuclear red lines

Tel Aviv’s recent strikes on Iranian military and nuclear infrastructure mark a new phase in a decades-long western strategy aimed at dismantling Muslim powers resistant to colonial domination. Iraq, Syria, Libya – all were destabilized under similar pretexts. The 2001 plot, conceived by the US, its European allies, and Israel, has entered its second phase, targeting Iran initially and Pakistan subsequently.
In a 2011 interview with Channel 2, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid bare the logic: Iran and Pakistan are the primary targets of this containment strategy, he stated blankly. “These radical regimes … pose a significant threat,” he said, stressing the need to prevent them from acquiring nuclear capability.

But recent Israeli provocations have instead triggered multipolar resistance to those plans. Speaking to The Cradle, Abdullah Khan of the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) reveals that Israeli drone operators had recently attempted to sabotage Pakistan’s nuclear facilities during the India–Pakistan crisis:

“Israeli drone operators were stationed in Indian operation rooms during the recent Pakistan–India conflict, trying to target Pakistan’s nuclear facilities. However, prompt action from Pakistan thwarted their efforts, preventing them from causing any damage to the nuclear assets of Pakistan.”

Defensive posturing or new axis?

A source in Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry reveals to The Cradle that Islamabad has quietly warned Washington of a potential nuclear escalation should Israel attack Iran with such weapons.

“If such a situation arises, it will spill beyond Iran. The region will enter a new, unpredictable security phase,” the source states.

The warning was soon echoed in Tehran. On 16 June, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) General Mohsen Rezaei declared on state television:

“Pakistan has told us that if Israel uses nuclear missiles, we will also attack it with nuclear weapons.”

Meanwhile, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif caused a stir with an incendiary post targeting exiled Iranian royal Reza Pahlavi, the son of the ousted shah of Iran. In response to Pahlavi’s BBC interview, Asif wrote on X:

“If Iranian people are energized and motivated, according to you, show some balls and go back and lead them and remove the regime. Put your money where your arse is, bloody parasitical imperial whore.”

Bilal Khan, a Toronto-based defense/security analyst and the co-founder of independent think tank Quwa Defence News & Analysis Group, tells The Cradle that Islamabad perceives itself as under coordinated pressure from the US, India, and Israel.

“The Pakistani security elite perceive that the US and its counter-proliferation regime are imposing penalties on Pakistan, although it was India that brought the nuclear issue to South Asia. “There exists a structural perception in Rawalpindi that the US, along with its allies India and Israel, is targeting Pakistan’s nuclear program. Nonetheless, it remains uncertain how Pakistan will handle the situation. Certainly, increased investment in air defense systems, enhanced domestic intelligence capabilities, and strengthening the air force with next-generation J-35 stealth fighters are all essential to take on any possible Israeli actions.”

From denial to celebration

While Islamabad has offered no formal commitment of military aid to Tehran, Iranian media and parliament are now rallying around Pakistan with chants of “Pakistan Zindabad.”

Diplomatically, Islamabad has backed Tehran’s call for a UN Security Council session on Israeli aggression and explicitly defended Iran’s right to self-defense. Alongside Algeria, China, and Russia, Pakistan played a key role in amplifying Iran’s initiative, marking a coordinated diplomatic front that signals a deeper convergence within the Eurasian bloc. This is no small gesture from a country once considered a possible target of Israel’s preemptive doctrine.

In a move that exposes Washington’s alarm, Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, was quietly summoned to the US Central Command headquarters in Florida. His absence from a key national parade in Islamabad has raised questions at home. While the Pakistani embassy remains tight-lipped, Dawn cited sources anticipating “uncomfortable conversations” in Washington.

Whether Munir’s US visit results in a recalibration or further consolidation of Islamabad’s alignment with Tehran and Beijing remains uncertain. But one thing is clear: Pakistan is no longer sitting on the fence.

[…]

Via https://thecradle.co/articles/pakistan-breaks-ranks-backs-iran-in-war-with-israel

Russian Foreign Ministry: Trump First President in Decades to Tell Americans the Truth

©  RTRT Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman optimistic US president will restore “normalcy” in his country

America faces a “colossal” number of internal problems, and Donald Trump is the first US president in many decades to openly admit this, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told RT’s Rick Sanchez on Wednesday.

Moscow remains cautiously optimistic about mending relations with Washington, because Trump has at least openly declared his intention to focus on “saving America” instead of meddling in other countries’ internal affairs, Zakharova told Sanchez in response to a question on whether Trump can resist the forces that seek confrontation with Russia.

“Finally, a man has arrived in the White House who isn’t talking about other parts of the world or dealing with problems of various population groups on other continents. He is the first in decades to tell the American people – and the world – that America needs to solve a colossal number of colossal problems,” she said.

“This man had it all: Money, fame, popularity, comfort, family – everything he wanted. He was even president. He could have said, ‘From now on, I’ll live for myself.’ But instead, he came back and said he’ll run again – not for money, fame, or popularity, but to try to save his country. That gives me additional optimism.”

Zakharova noted that Trump’s stance on gender is a sign that “normalcy” might return to America.

“Everyone can feel how they want to feel. You want to be a table – that’s your right. Want to be three dogs at once? You’re welcome. You can seek treatment or not, it’s up to you… But only a man and a woman were created,” she said.

Trump declared that the US would officially recognize only two genders during his inaugural address in January. He signed several executive orders reversing protections for trans individuals, ending federal support for gender reassignment procedures on minors, and banning trans women from women’s sports while removing “radical gender ideology” from the military.

Trump also promised to end US involvement in endless wars during the 2024 election campaign, but has since alienated some supporters with his vocal support for Israel’s bombing campaign against Iran – amid growing concerns that the US could become entangled in another foreign conflict.

[…]

Via https://www.rt.com/russia/619743-trump-americans-truth-zakharova/