US Southern Command shared on social media a 16-second clip of a strike on a boat in the Pacific Ocean that killed three people on February 20, 2026. (Photo: screen grab/SOUTHCOM/X)
“Washington’s extrajudicial murders of alleged drug smugglers: not just grossly immoral and flagrantly illegal, but a ridiculous failure on their own terms.”
US President Donald Trump has bombed dozens of boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean over the past 13 months, killing more than 230 people, but “record supplies of cocaine still arrive in the US, Europe, and as far away as Australia every day, cheaper and purer than they’ve been in decades,” The Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday.
After speaking with scholars of the cocaine trade and law enforcement officials across four continents, the Journal’s Juan Forero detailed how “Colombian navy divers are detecting greater use of ‘parasites’—metal modules packed with cocaine that traffickers bolt onto the hulls of freighters preparing to steam out of this country’s largest Pacific port.”
“Deep in the Amazon, smugglers have shifted shipments east, hiding drugs on boats moving through the rainforest’s vast river network,” he noted. “And on Colombia’s long coast, crews evade US military airstrikes by hugging the shoreline in the exact same speedboats the Americans are targeting.”
“In Europe, the influx is overwhelming authorities. The drugs arrive on container vessels, smaller boats from way stations in Africa, and semi-submersible vessels that cross the Atlantic to rendezvous with ships near Portugal or Spain,” the journalist added, pointing out that cocaine prices have dropped in both the United States and Europe.
Since Trump began bombing the alleged drug boats last year, his administration has argued his deadly campaign is both necessary to stem the flow of illicit drugs and lawful because the US is purportedly at war with cartels. Critics, including Democrats in Congress, legal experts, and human rights groups, have condemned the strikes as murders.
The Journal’s reporting isn’t the first to highlight the initiative’s apparent failure. It follows a July article from The Washington Post about a Drug Enforcement Administration analysis concluding the campaign “had failed to affect the supply or price of cocaine in the United States, and had led traffickers to diversify beyond go-fast boats and to avoid international waters, opting instead for larger boats and hemming close to coastlines, where US forces are less likely to open fire.”
Sharing the latest article on social media Wednesday, writer Jesse Walker wrote, “Washington’s extrajudicial murders of alleged drug smugglers: not just grossly immoral and flagrantly illegal, but a ridiculous failure on their own terms.”
Journalist Glenn Greenwald similarly said: “As was completely predictable (and predicted), Trump’s policy of bombing speed boats near Venezuela and Colombia has killed hundreds of people while having no success in impeding the flow of cocaine into the US. In fact, reports the WSJ, cocaine is more plentiful, purer, and cheaper in the US than ever, in part because of these bombings. At some point, will people realize that the justifications they’re given for US bombings and wars are almost always—always—lies?”
US President Donald Trump and son Eric Trump attend the final round of the Irish Open golf tournament at the Trump International Golf Links & Hotel in Doonbeg, Ireland on September 13, 2026. (Photo by Paul Faith/AFP via Getty Images)
“His wealth increases,” said an independent voter from Florida, “but the people in the country are just barely getting by.”
US President Donald Trump has made over $2 billion since returning to power last year, and polling results released Tuesday show a majority of Americans believe he has not only prioritized himself and his inner circle, but also engaged in illegal or unethical behavior to cash in on his control of the White House.
The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research surveyed 2,140 US adults from September 24-28 and found that 56% of Americans across the political spectrum believe that Trump has prioritized his personal business interests “a lot” since 2025. Another 19% said he has prioritized those “some.”
As for prioritizing the business interests of his friends and family, 54% said he has done so a lot, and 19% said some—figures published just days after an analysis estimating that companies backed financially by the president’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, have scored more than $6 billion in contracts from the US Department of Defense.
Meanwhile, as Americans struggle with the high cost of everything from gasoline and groceries to healthcare and housing, and with the midterm elections just weeks away, only 23% of those polled said the president has prioritized the country a lot, and 19% said some. Even worse, 11% said he’s prioritized “people like me” a lot, and 18% said some.
Trump—whose approval rating has recently plummeted to record lows, fueling GOP fears about losing majorities in both chambers of Congress next month—disclosed in July that he pocketed at least $2.2 billion, over half of which came from his family’s cryptocurrency grift.
That “completely unprecedented” windfall generated allegations of corruption—as have Trump’s stock trading disclosures since then, despite White House attempts to stress that his “stock and bond portfolio is independently managed by third-party financial institutions.”
AP-NORC found that 59% of Americans across the political spectrum believe Trump has done something illegal (41%) or unethical but not unlawful (18%) to profit from the presidency. That includes 89% of Democrats, 50% of independents, and 32% of Republicans.
“His wealth increases,” 87-year-old retiree Barbara Thaxton, an independent from Summerfield, Florida, told the AP, “but the people in the country are just barely getting by.”
Last week, Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released the “Trumpflation Tracker,” a tool that she said shows “families across the country exactly how much of a price they are paying for Trump’s and Republicans’ failed economic agenda.”
According to Warren’s tracker, during Trump’s second term, gasoline prices have soared 43.7%, healthcare costs are up 14.6%, residential electricity prices are 12.7% higher, childcare has risen 7.6%, and rent has jumped 5.1%. The tool suggests the average US household is paying thousands of dollars more due to GOP policies, from the president’s illegal war on Iran and tariffs to cuts in his party’s 2025 budget package.
🚨NEW from @SenateBanking and @SenWarren: The Trumpflation Tracker is shining a spotlight on how Trump's policies are making life more expensive for families.
Electric bills are up. Gas prices are up. Rent & grocery bills are up. Wage growth is slowing.
“So much for Trump’s ‘Golden Age’ of economic opportunity,” retiring Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said in response to the tracker. “Inflation is up more than 5% since he returned to the White House. Whether it’s the president’s tariffs, war with Iran, or cuts to healthcare and food assistance, his administration is making it harder for you to afford the basics.”
Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, South African judge Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, gestures after a press conference in Geneva on September 16, 2025. (Photo by Fabrice Coffrini/ AFP via Getty Images)
With one seemingly off-hand comment, Pillay framed a comparison between a cause she has fought for her whole life on behalf of her fellow human beings and the smallness of a man who is doing his best to unravel that work.
Asked for her thoughts, after learning that the Nobel Committee had awarded her the 2026 Peace Prize, Navi Pillay added a one-liner to an appreciative response, “I’ll share the award with Trump.” The seemingly off-hand comment was anything but. Rather, it showed power and depth in its pointedness, irony, sarcasm, humor, wisdom, and humanity. Here, within the context in which it was made, is what I gleaned from the comment.
The Nobel Committee’s rationale for awarding Pillay the prize included her dedicated efforts to defend international institutions and protect human rights. As a justice on the International Criminal Court, she had secured the indictment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for crimes against humanity committed against the people of Gaza, which amounted to genocide.
Perhaps the most obvious connection she was making with the comment was the futile gesture of Maria Corina Machado, 2025 Peace Prize winner. Machado attempted to leverage Trump’s support for her movement’s claim to the presidency of Venezuela, by sharing her Peace Prize with him—a move the Nobel Committee prohibits. In effect, Pillay was saying, “Look what that got her, nothing.” The implication is that it is wrongheaded to believe that pandering to petty, aspiring dictators will yield anything positive for a righteous cause.
Her use of humor highlighted its essential role in dressing down bullies who blatantly seek to dominate other human beings and trample on their inherent rights.
At the same time, with her sarcastic jibe, she added emphasis to the cause for which she was awarded the prize, the defense of international institutions and protection of human rights. In citing Trump by name she implied that he is the “poster boy” for the very assault she has dedicated her life to countering, particularly through her work at the International Criminal Court and the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
Additionally, her use of humor highlighted its essential role in dressing down bullies who blatantly seek to dominate other human beings and trample on their inherent rights. Through implicit ridicule she deftly punctured an overblown ego. Whether the target of the jibe gathered the intent or not was immaterial. Others would get the gist.
Navi’s use of sarcasm also served another purpose. It eviscerated Trump’s assertions of power, making a distinction between real power that derives from righteous cause and mutual respect, and the semblance of power that comes from the fawning of sycophants. It also reinforced the absence of Trump’s moral standing as world leader and portrayed him appropriately as one for whom “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” is his most notable achievement.
With one seemingly off-hand comment, Navi Pillay framed a comparison between a cause she has fought for her whole life on behalf of her fellow human beings and the smallness of a man who is doing his best to unravel an endeavor which, for a quarter of a millennium, has served as a beacon to the world for the ennoblement of humanity. More power to her!
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.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.Donald Trump warns against following the Onaquietday.org blog, says that he’s heard that she’s a which with a black cat and a dangerous kitchen.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham during a meeting with Scottish swimmer Archie Goodburn, 25, at No 10 Downing Street, London, October 14, 202
LEFT MPs have urged Andy Burnham to stick to his pledge to reverse neoliberalism as signs multiplied that the upcoming Budget will be tailored to business demands.
They spoke out after reports that Mr Burnham had told bosses at a Downing Street meeting that he wanted to run “the most pro-business government in the world.”
Hemsworth Labour MP Jon Trickett urged the Prime Minister to live up to his pledge to address the “40-year wrong turn” he has campaigned against.
“He promised an end to neoliberalism. I am not convinced meeting banks and big business indicates we are going to see the economic rupture with the policies of the last 40 years or so to get this country back on track,” he said.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.
dizzy: Don’t U-turn on neoliberalism? I’ve reached the conclusion that it should be disregarded as totally disposable if it comes from Andy Burnham’s Neo-Liberal mouth …
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Israeli soldiers are deployed at Erez border with heavy weapons and military vehicles in Erez, Israel on February 29, 2024. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]
A former head of Israeli military intelligence has said that since 7 October 2023, Israel has been run by an unwritten security doctrine that writes off the US as a declining power, rejects peace as a strategic goal and makes war a permanent feature of national life.
Hayman says the new concept has never been written down or presented to the public. Even so, it now “inform[s] decision-making and dictate[s] Israel’s approach to security”. He argues the shift goes beyond military planning and points to “a change in Israel’s national identity”.
The most striking principle is the doctrine’s view of Washington. Hayman says it treats the US as a “declining power” and holds that “excessive adherence to restrictions imposed on Israel by a US administration is dangerous”.
Under this thinking, the US, “given its ongoing social and political shifts, will soon abandon Israel in any event”. Dependence on Washington is also seen as exposing Israel “to the influence of a progressive American value system that is incompatible with Israel’s Jewish character”. Cutting ties with the US is therefore “not only inevitable, but essential to Israel’s independence and the resilience of its Jewish national identity”.
Hayman rejects that view. He points out that Israel is a small country with few natural resources and depends heavily on trade with the rest of the world. For that reason, he says, the country’s security chiefs have always believed it needs a major power on its side, because Israel “cannot sustain an autarkic defence economy isolated from the world”. In other words, Israel is incapable of producing everything it needs for its own defence.
Hayman questions whether a relationship with Washington based only on mutual interest would be enough to protect Israel. He also asks whether cutting Israeli science and arms industries off from international partnerships, such as the EU’s Horizon research programme, would leave Israel facing “technological stagnation and diplomatic isolation”.
Hayman identifies four other major principles behind the new doctrine. Taken together, they describe a state that puts ethnic identity before democracy, sees peace as a trap and treats war as normal.
The first is that Israel’s Jewish identity comes before its democracy. Under the doctrine, the state must stay Jewish “even at the cost of eroding its democratic values”. Hayman asks whether Israel can still call itself “Jewish and democratic” if it pursues a policy of curbing the civil rights of its Palestinian citizens, who make up about a fifth of the population.
The second principle rejects peace altogether. The doctrine holds that “a meaningful peace agreement is unattainable in the Middle East” and assumes that “any arrangement with Arab actors is temporary and deceptive”.
The doctrine treats peace deals as “merely technical and temporary arrangements”. Peace has no value of its own and is only “a means of achieving other policy objectives”. Peace itself is dismissed as “a naive concept” belonging to the left-wing “peace camp”, and set against “security”, which belongs to the right.
The third is contempt for Israel’s Arab neighbours as states. The doctrine views most of them as “not genuine nation-states, but collections of tribes and ethnic groups lacking a shared history”. It therefore sees their collapse as “a natural process” that Israel can manage and “should even encourage”.
The fourth is that war is Israel’s normal condition, not an exception. Preventive war is preferred, and the “constant presence” of war is considered “an asset to national security”. The paper quotes the slogan “Silence is filth” to sum up the view that seeking peace is a sign of weakness.
The doctrine goes further on territory. It calls for “forward defence” zones and civilian settlements in the occupied West Bank and in security zones inside Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. It rules out a Palestinian state and dismisses the Palestinian national movement as “an inauthentic Western narrative”.
Hayman says the doctrine draws its power from never being stated openly. It works “as an unwritten concept revealed through practice, rather than as a government’s declared policy”. He calls for a public debate on whether it is “a necessary adaptation” to Israel’s security situation or “an expression of a fundamental, unchecked shift in the state’s identity”.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel’s genocide.UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.Ed Miliband says that he and the Labour Party are full of shit criminalising people holding signs as terrorists despite anything he says.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham during a meeting with Scottish swimmer Archie Goodburn, 25, at No 10 Downing Street, London, October 14, 202
