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Tag: blockade

  • US Oil Piracy Continues as Fifth Tanker Tied to Venezuela Seized

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    Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    The oil tanker Olina is seized by US forces off the coast of Trinidad on January 9, 2025. (Screenshot from a video posted by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem)

    The US has purloined over $300 million of oil in a month while enforcing a blockade, which UN experts say has “seriously undermined the human rights of the Venezuelan people.”

    As President Donald Trump geared up for a meeting with fossil fuel executives about plans for them to tap into the “tremendous wealth” of Venezuela’s vast oil supply, the US military seized another oil tanker in the Caribbean off the coast of Trinidad on Friday morning.

    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted unclassified footage from US Southern Command of explosives being deployed and soldiers boarding the vessel Olina on social media.

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    “As another ‘ghost fleet’ tanker ship suspected of carrying embargoed oil, this vessel had departed Venezuela attempting to evade US forces,” she said. “This is owning the sea.”

    Olina, which was reportedly carrying around 700,000 barrels of crude, is at least the fifth tanker seized by the military in recent weeks and the third in the last three days after the Trump administration imposed a blockade on sanctioned oil tankers leaving Venezuela in December, a move that has been credited with hastening the country’s economic collapse.

    Earlier this week, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the US plans to manage Venezuela’s oil sales and revenues indefinitely following its illegal operation last weekend to topple and abduct President Nicolás Maduro.

    According to the ship-tracking database TankerTrackers.com, the US has “seized five tankers and 6.15 million barrels in the span of a month, with the oil valued at over $300 million.”

    The US has described Olinaand other ships it has seized as part of a “shadow fleet” that uses deceptive tactics—including flying false flags—to secretively transport oil for sanctioned countries, including Venezuela, Russia, and Iran.

    The US has justified its blockade of Venezuela’s oil, as well as the overthrow of Maduro generally, based on the claim that its government is part of an alleged foreign terrorist organization known as the “Cartel de los Soles.”

    In late December, a group of United Nations experts condemned the blockade and denounced this justification, stating that the alleged cartel does not exist. The US Department of Justice later acknowledged that the cartel was not an actual organization in its indictment of Maduro this week. Maduro has pleaded not guilty to US narco-terrorism charges.

    The group of international experts, which included Ben Saul, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, and Gina Romero, the special rapporteur on freedom of association and assembly, described the blockade as “violating fundamental rules of international law.”

    “There is no right to enforce unilateral sanctions through an armed blockade,” the experts said, citing the United Nations Charter, which describes blockades without UN Security Council approval as illegal acts of aggression.

    They added that “there are serious concerns that the sanctions are unlawful, disproportionate, and punitive under international law, and that they have seriously undermined the human rights of the Venezuelan people.”

    Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
    Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
    Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
    Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
    Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.

  • ‘Unquestionably an Act of War’: Trump Declares Naval Blockade Against Venezuela

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    Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    Oil tankers are seen anchored in Lake Maracaibo after loading crude oil at Venezuela’s Bajo Grande Refinery port on December 4, 2025.
     (Photo by Jose Bula Urrutia/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

    “This is the Iraq War 2.0 with a South American flavor to it,” warned one Democratic senator.

    US President Donald Trump late Tuesday declared a blockade on “all sanctioned oil tankers” approaching and leaving Venezuela, a major escalation in what’s widely seen as an accelerating march to war with the South American country.

    The “total and complete blockade,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, will only be lifted when Venezuela returns to the US “all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”

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    “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump wrote, referring to the massive US military buildup in the Caribbean. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.”

    The government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, which has mobilized its military in response to the US president’s warmongering, denounced Trump’s comments as a “grotesque threat” aimed at “stealing the riches that belong to our homeland.”

    The US-based anti-war group CodePink said in a statement that “Trump’s assertion that Venezuela must ‘return’ oil, land, and other assets to the United States exposes the true objective” of his military campaign.

    “Venezuela did not steal anything from the United States. What Trump describes as ‘theft’ is Venezuela’s lawful assertion of sovereignty over its own natural resources and its refusal to allow US corporations to control its economy,” said CodePink. “A blockade, a terrorist designation, and a military buildup are steps toward war. Congress must act immediately to stop this escalation, and the international community must reject this lawless threat.”

    The announced naval blockade—an act of aggression under international law—came a week after the Trump administration seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela and made clear that it intends to intercept more.

    US Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), one of the leaders of a war powers resolution aimed at preventing the Trump administration from launching a war on Venezuela without congressional approval, said Tuesday that “a naval blockade is unquestionably an act of war.”

    “A war that the Congress never authorized and the American people do not want,” Castro added, noting that a vote on his resolution is set for Thursday. “Every member of the House of Representatives will have the opportunity to decide if they support sending Americans into yet another regime change war.”

    “This is absolutely an effort to get us involved in a war in Venezuela.”

    Human rights organizations have accused the Republican-controlled Congress of abdicating its responsibilities as the Trump administration takes belligerent and illegal actions in international waters and against Venezuela directly, claiming without evidence to be combating drug trafficking.

    Last month, Senate Republicans—some of whom are publicly clamoring for the US military to overthrow Maduro’s government—voted down a Venezuela war powers resolution. Two GOP senators, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, joined Democrats in supporting the resolution.

    Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy, wrote Tuesday that “the White House minimized Republican ‘yes’ votes by promising that Trump would seek Congress’ authorization before initiating hostilities against Venezuela itself.”

    “Trump today broke that promise to his own party’s lawmakers by ordering a partial blockade on Venezuelan ships,” wrote Williams. “A blockade, including a partial one, definitively constitutes an act of war. Trump is starting a war against Venezuela without congressional authorization.”

    Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) warned in a television appearance late Monday that members of the Trump administration are “going to do everything they can to get us into this war.”

    “This is the Iraq War 2.0 with a South American flavor to it,” he added. “This is absolutely an effort to get us involved in a war in Venezuela.”

    Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn't bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
    Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.

  • Ten lies the US ambassador told the UN about the blockade on Cuba

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    Original article by republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

    US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz speaking at a UNSC session. Photo: Mike Waltz / X

    Ahead of the UN vote on the US-imposed blockade on Cuba, the US once again spread lies about the nature and intent of its coercive policy on Cuba

    The United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, told multiple lies during his speech in the debate on the resolution demanding an end to the blockade against Cuba.

    His speech repeated – almost point by point – the repertoire of already debunked arguments that Washington typically uses to justify its sanctions regime that is condemned year after year by the international community.

    Under the guise of “correcting misinformation,” Waltz repeated claims that do not stand up to confrontation with the facts nor with current US legislation itself, and which seek to shift the focus from the material responsibility of the blockade towards political accusations against Cuba.

    Waltz received a strong reaction from the Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez who interrupted the representative from his seat:

    “The Permanent Representative of the United States is not only lying, substantially straying from the topic, but he is also speaking rudely and, contrary to his president, against the dignity of the assembly and the member states. He is doing so in an uncivilized, crude, and rude manner. That is not acceptable in this democratic forum. Mr. Waltz, this is the United Nations General Assembly. It is not a Signal chat, nor is it the House of Representatives.”

    The ten lies of the US Ambassador:

    1. “The blockade does not exist.”

    The US legislation that sustains the blockade – the Helms-Burton Act (including its Title III), the Torricelli Act, the “180-day rule,” sectoral and financial sanctions lists – exists and is in force. The Cuban Resolution against the blockade does not “invent” these rules: it documents them and shows their practical application. Furthermore, official US documents, such as the reissuance of Presidential Memorandum No. 5 (06/30/2025), confirm the continuity of the “maximum pressure” policy against Cuba.

    2. “Cuba’s economic difficulties are the exclusive responsibility of the Havana government.”

    The stated goal of US policy is to “strangle the economy” to provoke social unrest; this includes targeting fuel, finances, tourism, and medical cooperation. This siege impacts prices, investments, logistics, and liquidity, and explains a large part of the current economic tensions.

    3. “The annual UN resolution is propaganda.”

    The vote expresses a broad defense of international law and the UN Charter; the unusual deployment of US diplomatic pressures to alter votes underscores the isolation of this policy and the relevance of the multilateral pronouncement.

    4. “The shortage of food and medicine is the fault of the Cuban government.”

    There is a chain of bottlenecks caused by the US economic siege: in healthcare, the Basic Drug List (651 items) shows a 69% impact, with 364 drugs (56%) lacking due to payment obstacles, suppliers refusing to operate, and technological prohibitions blocking equipment or supplies with ≥10% US components. This prevents the acquisition or severely increases the cost of advanced medicines and critical devices (for example, percutaneous aortic valve prostheses or dialysis equipment), with a direct impact on care and health indicators.

    Regarding food, the lack of financing and banking refusals forced the halt of imports of approximately 337,000 tons of corn and ~120,300 tons of soybeans (animal feed), leading to failures in the production of eggs for the Basic Food Basket. Even “authorized” purchases in the US are made under non-standard conditions: specific licenses, cash payment in advance (without credit), transport only on US ships and on one-way trips, which increases freight costs and delays deliveries. The lack of goods is due to lack of financing, limited access to credit, increased prices, high freight costs, and delays in arrivals, direct consequences of the blockade.

    5. “The blockade allows for free export.”

    There is no commercial “freedom”: the US legal framework establishes a policy of denial for exports/re-exports to Cuba (EAR) and prohibits subsidiaries of US companies in third countries from trading with Cuba; furthermore, the “180-day rule” is in effect, which discourages shipping companies from calling at Cuban ports, and permitted agricultural sales require cash payment in advance, without US financing. All this restricts and makes any operation more expensive, both for exporting and importing.

    Added to this is extraterritorial financial persecution: fines and threats to banks and suppliers, refusals to open or maintain accounts, and blocked operations that cut off payment and collection flows. Cuba’s own report includes recent cases (OFAC fine to EFG; refusal to open an account for the EXPO Osaka; closures of embassy accounts) and quantifies widespread impacts on contracts, letters of credit, and transfers.

    That is to say, far from “exporting freely,” Cuba trades under veto, licenses, and regulatory fear; in fact, the document lists measures that Washington could authorize – biomedicine, mining, tourism, easing of investment licenses, raising the 10% US component threshold, authorizing banking correspondents, removing Cuba from the SSOT list, and suspending Title III – and which it currently obstructs.

    6. “Cuba has full freedom to trade with other countries.”

    The US secondary (extraterritorial) measures deter and punish third parties (banks, shipping companies, insurers), increasing the costs and risks of operating with Cuba, which restricts real freedom of trade.

    7. “The Cuban government traffics its medical personnel.”

    Cuba maintains voluntary and widely recognized international cooperation; the US persecution seeks to cut off these revenues and deprive vulnerable populations of essential services, ignoring UN and PAHO standards.

    8. “The Cuban government benefits from mercenarism.”

    Cuba applies “zero tolerance” to mercenarism and has criminally prosecuted recruiters; it does not support or condone the participation of its nationals in external conflicts.

    9. “Cuba destabilizes the hemisphere.”

    What is destabilizing is the US military deployment and diplomatic blackmail in the Caribbean and the region; Cuba and CELAC uphold the principle of a “Zone of Peace”.

    10. “Cuba contributes to the Russian ‘war machine’.”

    Cuba does not participate in the war in Ukraine nor send troops; it has dismantled recruitment networks and sanctions mercenarism.

  • ‘An Avoidable Disaster’: Israeli Blockade of Gaza Could Starve Hundreds of Premature Babies

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    Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    A newborn baby in an incubator struggles to survive following Israel’s blockade of food and medical aid in Gaza City, Gaza on March 11, 2025. 
    (Photo: Khalil Ramzi Alkahlut/Anadolu via Getty Images)

    The Associated Press reported Wednesday that 580 premature infants are at risk of death due to “depleted” reserves of baby formula.

    The Associated Press reported Wednesday that 580 premature infants are at risk of death, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, due to a shortage of medical-grade formula entering the strip.

    Despite a recent policy change by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow “minimal aid” into the strip following a total blockade of food, water, shelter, and medication, it has proven far too little to keep hospitals running and keep people fed. It has proven especially deadly for children.

    The AP report quotes Dr. Ahmed al-Farah, head of the pediatrics and obstetrics department at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, one of the few functional medical facilities left in Gaza.

    Last week, al-Farah warned that the hospital’s stock of milk was “completely depleted,” and that unless aid was delivered immediately, the babies would face “an avoidable disaster.” The widely publicized call was answered with the shipment of 20 boxes of formula from the U.S. aid group Rahma Worldwide.

    Al-Farah said this was enough to meet the needs of 10 babies for two weeks, but warned that in the long run it would be far too little, especially with no guarantee of aid in the future.

    “This is not enough at all,” he told the AP. “It solved the problem temporarily, but what we need is a permeant solution: Lift the siege.”

    Many other hospitals reported shortages of formula that had not been answered, such as Al-Rantisi Hospital in Gaza City, which was completely out of stock.

    Fortified milk has become increasingly necessary in Gaza due to the increasing number of premature births. In May, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that as a result of widespread hunger, 1 in 5 children is now born pre-term or underweight. That malnutrition has also left many new mothers unable to breastfeed.

    Dr. Asaad Nawajha, a pediatric specialist at Nasser Hospital, told Middle East Eye that the blockade has proven catastrophic for the health of both children and their mothers.

    “This all goes back to the [harsh] conditions mothers endure amid this vicious war on the Gaza Strip,” Nawajha said. “Due to the lack of nutritious items entering the Gaza Strip, both mothers and children have been exposed to illnesses resulting from malnutrition.”

    The Israeli government’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) has insisted that the amount of aid allowed into Gaza is sufficient to provide for the population.

    On June 22, COGAT announced that 430 aid trucks had been allowed to enter the strip during the preceding week. However, this is but a fraction of the more than 600 trucks per day that the United Nations is necessary to meet their needs.

    Many people who have come to aid sites administered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), to obtain the meager supplies available, have been met with deadly violence from the Israeli military.

    Since May 27, at least 549 Palestinians have been killed and more than 4,000 injured by Israeli forces at these sites, according to the U.N. Office for Coordinated Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Gaza Ministry of Health. The Gaza Media Office reports at least 19 fatal incidents at these GHF sites over the span of just one month.

    Many of the victims have been children. According to a study released Thursday by the humanitarian group Save the Children, children have been killed at 10 of those 19 incidents.

    “No child should be killed searching for food,” said Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children’s regional director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. “This is not a humanitarian operation—it’s a death trap.”

    Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    Vote Labour for Genocide.
    Vote Labour for Genocide.
    Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
    Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
    UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don't do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
    UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.

  • Delegates from 32 nations march to Gaza, call for end to blockade and genocide

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

    Hundreds of activists from Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia depart from 5th Mohammed Avenue in Tunis as part of the “Maghreb Resistance Convoy,” organized to break Israel’s blockade on Gaza and show solidarity with the Palestinian people, on June 9, 2025. [Mohamed Mdalla – Anadolu Agency]

    An international solidarity march set off towards the Gaza Strip yesterday, aiming to break the ongoing blockade and demand an end to what participants describe as the genocide being committed by Israel since 7 October 2023.

    Thousands of supporters from 32 countries are taking part in the march, with plans to reach Gaza’s border through the Rafah crossing with Egypt. Their goals include delivering humanitarian aid and expressing support for the Palestinian people.

    Organisers said the participating convoys are expected to gather in Cairo on Thursday, before heading to the city of Arish in north-eastern Egypt. From there, participants will continue on foot towards the Rafah border crossing, where protest tents are planned to be set up.

    The main organisers, the “Global March to Gaza”, said it has representatives in most European, North and South American countries, as well as in several Arab and Asian nations. This, it said, reflects growing international momentum in support of the Palestinian cause.

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    Leading the march is Algeria’s “Caravan of Steadfastness,” which departed from the capital Algiers yesterday towards Tunisia. From there, it will join the Tunisian convoy and continue through Libya to Egypt, with the aim of eventually reaching Gaza.

    “The Caravan of Steadfastness set off on Sunday towards Tunisia. It will join the Tunisian convoy, travel through Libya to Egypt, and from there to Gaza via Rafah,” said Sheikh Yahya Sari, head of the Algerian Initiative to Support Palestine and Aid Gaza, in a statement.

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

    UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don't do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
    UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.