new authoritarianism

US approves possible sale of Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System to Israel

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An Israeli soldier aims his weapon during an Israeli army raid in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, in Nablus, West Bank, Palestine on April 12, 2026. [Nedal Eshtayah – Anadolu Agency]

The US State Department said Friday that it approved the possible sale of Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) and related equipment to Israel, Anadolu Agency reports.

The estimated total cost is $992.4 million, it said in a statement.

“The proposed sale will improve Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats, strengthen its homeland defense, and serve as a deterrent to regional threats. Israel will have no difficulty absorbing these articles and services into its armed forces,” it added.

The principal contractor will be BAE Systems in the US state of New Hampshire.

The US has long been criticized for providing support to Israel for its genocideal war in the Gaza Strip, where more than 72,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed since October 2023. A ceasefire was reached in October 2025, but violations have been frequent.

Several American lawmakers have demanded that the US stop supplying weapons to Israel and accused it of being complicit in Israel’s war in Gaza.

READ: New US shipment of 6,500 tons of military aid arrives in Israel

Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel's genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it's fun to kill everyone ...
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Strait of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don't need people to join wars after they've already won. He's challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Strait of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.

Continue ReadingUS approves possible sale of Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System to Israel

31 activists injured during Israeli interception of Gaza-bound aid flotilla: Global Sumud

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

A screen grab captured from CCTV video show crew of the Spring 2026 mission of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which set sail to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, Palestine, as the flotilla is blockaded by Israeli warships and drones at Mediterranean Sea on April 30, 2026. [Global Sumud Flotilla – Anadolu Agency]

At least 31 activists were injured during Israel’s interception of the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters, according to statements from the group, Anadolu Agency reports.

The Global Sumud Flotilla committee said those injured included activists from multiple countries, among them four each from New Zealand and Australia; three each from Italy and the US; two each from Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, Colombia and Germany; and one each from Hungary, Ukraine, France, Poland and Portugal.

One of the injured holds dual Turkish-German citizenship, while efforts are ongoing to determine the identities of three other passengers, it added.

In a separate statement, it said activists detained during the interception were subjected to ill-treatment aboard an Israeli naval vessel for nearly 40 hours.

The group said that detainees were deliberately denied sufficient water and food and forced to sleep on wet floors.

It also said participants who resisted the detention of Saif Abukeshek, a Spanish national of Palestinian origin, and Brazilian citizen Thiago Avila were met with force by Israeli soldiers.

READ: Over 180 activists detained in Israeli attack on Gaza aid flotilla in international waters, organizer says

One activist described the incident, saying, “As you can see, my nose is probably broken. My ribs hurt; maybe they are broken, too. I’m not sure. My neck as well. They kicked us, punched us, and dragged us on the ground, and we even heard shots being fired at people,” according to the statement.

The Global Sumud humanitarian aid flotilla was attacked Thursday near the Greek island of Crete, 600 nautical miles from its destination, the blockade-ravaged enclave of Gaza.

The flotilla’s first ships, carrying humanitarian aid, left Barcelona on April 12, while the main fleet set sail from the Italian island of Sicily on April 26, aiming to break Israel’s years-long blockade of Gaza.

Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip since 2007, leaving the territory’s 2.4 million people on the verge of starvation.

Israel launched a brutal two-year offensive on Gaza in October 2023, killing more than 72,000 people, injuring over 172,000, and causing massive destruction across the besieged territory.

READ: Spain urges EU to suspend Israel association agreement over Gaza aid flotilla interception

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel's genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it's fun to kill everyone ...
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Strait of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don't need people to join wars after they've already won. He's challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Strait of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.

Continue Reading31 activists injured during Israeli interception of Gaza-bound aid flotilla: Global Sumud

Israeli army demolishes Christian monastery, nuns’ school in southern Lebanon

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Smoke rises from targeted areas in the town of Kefr Tibtin in Lebanon’s Nabatieh province following an airstrike, on April 26, 2026. [Ramiz Dallah – Anadolu Agency]

The Israeli army demolished a monastery and a school run by the Sisters of the Holy Savior in the southern Lebanese town of Yaroun, the state National News Agency reported on Friday.

The school “was considered one of the most prominent educational institutions in the region,” having educated thousands of students over the years from various towns in the Bint Jbeil district, said the agency.

Its targeting represents “a major loss at both the educational and social levels,” it added.

Israel has waged an offensive in Lebanon since March 2, killing more than 2,600 people and displacing over 1 million.

A 10-day ceasefire that began on April 17 was later extended until May 17, but Israel continues to violate it daily through airstrikes and the demolition of homes.

Moreover, Israel also maintains what it calls a “buffer zone” in southern Lebanon, which it claims is meant to prevent attacks from Hezbollah. An earlier truce was reached in November 2024.

READ: Christian nun injured in settler attack in Jerusalem

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel's genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it's fun to kill everyone ...
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Strait of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don't need people to join wars after they've already won. He's challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Strait of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.

Continue ReadingIsraeli army demolishes Christian monastery, nuns’ school in southern Lebanon

‘No Aggressor, No Matter How Powerful, Will Find Surrender in Cuba,’ President Warns Trump

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Article by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel (C) takes part in the “Anti-Imperialist” protest in front of the US Embassy against the US incursion in Venezuela, where 32 Cuban soldiers lost their lives, in Havana on January 16, 2026. (Photo by Yamil Lage/ POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

After the US president again threatened invasion, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez said he would only “find a people determined to defend sovereignty and independence in every inch of the national territory.”

President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez of Cuba on Saturday responded with stark and defiant words to the latest attacks coming from US President Donald Trump, who on Friday signed a new executive order authorizing even more aggressive sanctions against the island nation and later threatened to invade the country.

“The President of the United States escalates his threats of military aggression against Cuba to a dangerous and unprecedented scale,” said Díaz-Canel in a statement. “The international community must take note and, together with the people of the United States, determine whether such a drastic criminal act will be allowed to satisfy the interests of a small but wealthy and influential group, driven by desires for revenge and domination.”

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“No aggressor, no matter how powerful, will find surrender in Cuba,” he added. If Trump were to attack the country, the Cuban president said, “he will find a people determined to defend sovereignty and independence in every inch of the national territory.”

“What does ‘No Kings’ mean when one man can snap his fingers and kill innocent Cubans on a whim?”

In addition “to blocking the US assets of foreign individuals and entities operating in Cuba’s energy, defense, financial services, metals, mining, and security sectors, as well as anyone acting on behalf of the Cuban government,” as Drop Site News notes, Friday’s executive order also “authorizes sanctions on foreign financial institutions that conduct significant transactions with designated Cuban entities, potentially cutting them off from US correspondent banking.”

As such, the outlet continued, the new sanctions “could further isolate Cuba from the international financial system, limit foreign investment, and exacerbate the island’s already severely restricted access to medicine, food imports, and basic goods.”

In addition to the signed executive order, Trump said during a Friday campaign-style event in Florida that the US “will be taking [Cuba] over almost immediately.”

Upon their return from Iran, where Trump has waged a deeply unpopular war, the US president told the crowd, “We’ll have maybe the USS Lincoln [aircraft carrier] come in offshore, and they’ll give up.”

In a floor speech earlier this week, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) rebuked the Trump administration for the humanitarian disaster it has unleashed in Cuba, which follows what he described as a “failed” policy towards the island country over decades.

“If we want to avoid war with Cuba,” said Van Hollen, “we must rein in this lawless president and learn from the failed, bipartisan policies that led us to this point.”

David Adler, the co-general coordinator of Progressive International, condemned the relative silence of US opponents to the Trump administration, who have not done, in his mind, nearly enough to challenge the blockade or condemn the administration’s repeated and ongoing threats to invade the island nation or overthrow its government.

“ Donald Trump has given [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio the green light to annihilate a peaceful nation and its people—and the ‘resistance’ is silent,” said Adler. “What does ‘No Kings’ mean when one man can snap his fingers and kill innocent Cubans on a whim?”

Article by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
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Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
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Continue Reading‘No Aggressor, No Matter How Powerful, Will Find Surrender in Cuba,’ President Warns Trump

Citing Bogus ‘Threats’ to US, Trump Expands Already Devastating Sanctions on Cuba

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Article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Cubans hold a banner reading, “Knock Down the Blockade” during an International Workers’ Day rally near the US Embassy in Havana on May 1, 2026. (Photo by Magdalena Chodownik/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The president’s latest aggression toward Cuba comes amid his repeated threats to “take” the island.

Citing Cuba’s ties with its ally Iran, President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order expanding the already crippling US sanctions regime against Cuban officials, as the US administration has the island in its crosshairs after ousting Venezuela’s socialist leader.

Trump’s executive order cites highly dubious “national security threats posed by the communist Cuban regime,” including Havana’s alignment “with countries and malign actors hostile to the United States.”

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The directive “imposes new sanctions on entities, persons, or affiliates that support the Cuban regime’s security apparatus, are complicit in government corruption or serious human rights violations, or are agents, officials, or material supporters of the Cuban government,” without identifying any of the affected groups or individuals.

For 65 years, the US has imposed an economic embargo on Cuba that has adversely affected all sectors of the socialist island’s economy and severely limited Cubans’ access to basic necessities including food, fuel, healthcare, and medicines—with disastrous results. The Cuban government claims the blockade cost the country’s economy nearly $5 billion in just one 11-month period in 2022-23 alone. United Nations member states have perennially—and overwhelmingly—condemned the embargo.

The Trump administration also imposed a fuel blockade and reinstated Cuba on the US State Sponsors of Terrorism list, from which former President Joe Biden removed the country before leaving office in 2021. Cuba was initially added to the list during the Reagan administration amid a decadeslong campaign of US-backed Cuban exile terrorism, failed assassination attempts, economic warfare, and covert operations large and small in a futile effort to overthrow the revolutionary government of longtime leader Fidel Castro.

Cuba says US-backed terrorism has killed or wounded more than 5,000 Cubans and cost its economy billions of dollars.

The Cuban government—which was celebrating International Workers’ Day on Friday—did not immediately respond to the expanded sanctions.

Experts warned that the new sanctions are worryingly broad, with Georgetown Law visiting scholar Peter Harrell writing on X that “basically any non-US person or company doing any business in/with Cuba could be sanctioned.”

Harrell noted that the edict “gives the Trump administration a fair amount of easy-to-deploy firepower to drive remaining international businesses out of Cuba.”

“The questions will be in implementation,” he added. “For example, will Trump sanction a Chinese firm installing renewable energy in Cuba?”

Trump’s edict comes months after the president ordered the invasion of Venezuela and abduction of socialist President Nicolás Maduro and amid the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran, the 10th country bombed during the course of Trump’s two terms in office.

Trump last month declared that “we may stop by Cuba after we’re finished with this,” referring to war on Iran that’s left thousands of people dead or wounded, including hundreds of children. The president has also said that he believes he’ll “be having the honor of taking Cuba,” language echoing the 19th century US imperialists who conquered the island along with Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines from Spain in another war waged on dubious pretense.

“Whether I free it, take it—I think I can do anything I want,” Trump said of the island and its 11 million inhabitants.

Article by Brett Wilkins republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it's fun to kill everyone ...
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Continue ReadingCiting Bogus ‘Threats’ to US, Trump Expands Already Devastating Sanctions on Cuba