sop
sop's JournalTrump Makes 'Most Blase Admission of a War Crime by a US President in History'
"President Donald Trump said the US Navy chose to sink an Iranian frigate, killing more than 100 sailors last week, because it was 'more fun' than capturing the vessel, even though the ship posed no threat."
"Though death tolls vary, Iran’s state media organization, the Islamic Republic News Organization, reported on Sunday that 104 crew members were killed in the attack and that 32 others were injured when a US submarine torpedoed the Iranian warship IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean on March 4 as it departed from the Milan Peace 2026 naval drills hosted in India."
"The Dena was more than 2,000 miles away from the Persian Gulf when it was attacked, far from the hostilities unleashed last weekend when the US and Israel launched a war against Iran. Contradicting US claims, Iranian and Indian officials have said it was not armed."
"In what political commentator Adam Schwarz described as 'the most blasé admission of a war crime by a US president in history,' Trump on Monday casually recounted the US Navy’s decision to attack the ship before a gathering of Republicans at a Congressional Institute event, a GOP-aligned nonprofit retreat organizer."
Continued at link:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-iran-ship-sunk-for-fun
'Government By Monsters' - Tom Hartmann
"Across Iran and the Caribbean, President Donald Trump and his lickspittles delight in killing as if people were expendable scenery, not human beings with loved ones and families. Meanwhile, they ignore the death and destruction their fellow psychopath, Russian President Vladimir Putin, rains down on Ukraine every night."
"India and America invite Iran to send an UNARMED ship to the Indian Ocean to participate in military exercises, and Trump and Whiskey Pete decided it would be fun to blow it out of the water, leaving over 100 sailors miles from shore, desperate for a rescue. Instead of saving them, as international law requires, we simply left them to drown."
"Whiskey Pete called it 'quiet death.' In fact, there was a lot of screaming and sobbing, although the bombers couldn’t hear it from 20,000 feet any more than Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth could in his drunken haze."
"Just like they blew up a boat in the Caribbean and then, when two fishermen survived clinging to a piece of debris and were desperately waving for help, came back with an illegally unmarked plane and blew them into bits of blood and gristle. Another clear violation of international and American law."
Continued at link:
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-administration-monsters
'How the Epstein Files Reveal the Final Failure of QAnon'
(TPM) "The most enduring conspiracy theories often contain kernels of truth, though it is debatable whether any popularly theorized conspiracy has later been proven as real by unassailable facts. But if one popular conspiracy theory seems to have been promoted from 'theory' to fact, it would appear to be QAnon. What started as a far-right prophecy scam using codes and ciphers on 4chan to 'reveal' the horrors of a pedophile cabal ruling the world has taken on a distinct tinge of truth thanks to millions of newly-released files involving fixer and child abuser Jeffrey Epstein."
"It’s easy to look at Epstein’s communications with billionaires and royals, famous directors and scions of old money, and see the dealings of a cabal. In those countless emails, we seem to have a notorious sex offender and lover of 'young women' exchanging messages with some of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people. Some of them appear innocuous, and some of them are deeply weird and extremely disturbing."
"Like QAnon’s accusations, at least some of these messages are written in what many researchers have theorized is a code for truly unspeakable things, such as powerful people trafficking their own children, or hunting and eating human beings. And just like with QAnon, it’s fallen to 'citizen researchers'to dig through the 'drops' from the Department of Justice, as unpaid truth crusaders churn through millions of messages full of noise to find the bits of signal that 'they' were hiding from us."
"Naturally, the Epstein revelations have resulted in some QAnon believers claiming that the Epstein releases validate their years of hard work and research into the 'pedo elite' running the west. It’s also resulted in a number of stories, podcasts, and social media threads essentially saying that QAnon was right this whole time. Essentially, we all thought these Q people were crazy, but there really was a pedophile cabal running things, and the Q believers knew the whole time."
Continued at link:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/how-the-epstein-files-reveal-the-final-failure-of-qanon
'Oh Come on,' Says Senate Democrat After Jake Tapper Plays Voting-Against-the-Troops Card
"Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut offered immediate push back on Sunday when CNN anchorJake Tapper said a vote against an expected $50 billion request by President Donald Trump to fund his attack on Iran would be seen as 'voting against the troops.' "
“ 'Oh come on,' said Murphy, incredulous. 'I mean, the American people don’t want this war. They don’t want this war—they have seen what happens when American troops go into places like Iraq, places like Afghanistan. Ultimately we get a lot of people killed, we waste a lot of dollars. The one thing the people of the American people have been clear about is that they don’t want the United States dragged into another long-term war in the Middle East.' "
"Polling has shown that Murphy is correct, with only one out of four people—a mere 25%—in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released last week showing any kind of support for Trump’s war of choice against Iran."
“ 'If you support the troops,' said Murphy, 'then you should vote against this war so that we get our troops out of harm’s way. Virtually nothing good happened from sending thousands of Americans to die in Iraq in the 2000s and if we don’t learn that lesson then shame on every single one of us.' "
Continued at link:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/support-the-troops-iran-war
'Iran: It's Hard to Know How To Exit When You Don't Know Why You're There'
(TPM) "In discussions of modern wars Americans obsess about 'exit strategies.' How do you avoid getting 'bogged down'? How do you know when the mission is finished? How do you avoid 'mission creep'? These are very much Great Power questions. They’re all questions you ask about what are fundamentally wars of choice. They’re framed as questions of duration and sustainability, questions a Great Power asks when there are likely multiple draws on blood or treasure in various parts of the world, fears of over-extension and over-commitment. Other countries don’t have the luxury of these kinds of questions; it’s built into the Great Power equation. Ukraine has no 'exit strategy.' They’re being invaded. They’re fighting to control their own territory and sovereignty. In a way, at least if you place yourself in the world of Greater Russian nationalism where Vladimir Putin and his entourage live, Russia doesn’t have one either. They’re trying to reclaim 'their' territory or something between a national and imperial possession. They’ll fight until they get it."
"But talk of 'exit strategies' is really a way of asking what the goals are that led you to start a war in the first place. If the goal of your military action is clear, your exit strategies should be straightforward. Indeed, you shouldn’t need a ‘strategy’ at all. When your goals or met you’re done and you leave. Or at least you stop using military force. If you know what your goal is you fight until you’ve a) achieved your goal or b) realized through battlefield reverses that your goal is unattainable. If your goal is unclear all the inherent forward momentum of superior military force drives you forward."
"There are few modern wars where the US has launched an all out war, which this certainly is, with so little clarity about what it is we are even trying to accomplish. The Iraq War of 2003 is certainly a pretty good example of that. But what we were trying to achieve in Iraq was pretty clear: we wanted to topple the government of Saddam Hussein and replace it with another one. When the moment of invasion came in March 2003 really no one had any question that this was the only outcome the United States would accept. Just why that was so important was much, much fuzzier and what kind of government we’d put in its place even more so. But the immediate goal of the war was clear: there was no way the US would allow Saddam Hussein to remain in power."
"How about here? We’re demanding now 'unconditional surrender.' That appears to be our current war aim. But we’ve also said it’s eliminating Iran’s nuclear program, degrading its missile armory, creating an opening for a domestic opposition to take power, reacting to an imminent threat. Most notably, the US doesn’t appear to be deploying the kind of force that has much chance of achieving this goal."
Continued at link:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/iran-its-hard-to-know-how-exit-when-you-dont-know-why-youre-there
'The Donroe Doctrine Fan Club Kicks Off in Miami'
"For nearly three years the Dominican Republic (DR) had been excitedly preparing to host the region’s biggest multilateral event: the 2025 Summit of the Americas, bringing together the leaders of nearly every government in the Western Hemisphere. But on November 3, only a month before the summit was to take place, the DR’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs abruptly announced the postponement of the event, citing 'recent climatic events' (i.e., hurricanes) and 'profound divisions that currently hamper productive dialogue in the hemisphere.' "
"Indeed, regional 'divisions' that others might call 'alarm' or 'outrage' had intensified during fall 2025 following the US’s massive military buildup in the Caribbean, US air strikes against alleged drug boats — resulting in scores of extrajudicial killings — and the threat of a US attack on Venezuela. Past summits, including the 2022 summit in Los Angeles, had seen Latin American leaders fiercely pushing back against US regional policies. Fearing a potential public relations disaster, Dominican president Luis Abinader — following consultations with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio — decided that pulling the plug was the best option."
"So far there’s no word of a new date for the Summit of the Americas. However, on Saturday, March 7, US President Donald Trump will convene a far smaller hemispheric summit at his golf resort in Miami. The group of Caribbean and Latin American leaders that will be attending Trump’s summit — entitled 'Shield of the Americas' — are fans of his aggressive interventionism, his so-called 'war on narcoterror,' and his administration’s attacks on left-wing governments and movements in the region. They have earned their exclusive invitations through various forms of tribute and by pledging their continued loyalty, though it remains to be seen whether Trump and Rubio will succeed in garnering support for every point on their agenda and in particular for their effort to push China out of the region."
"Featuring a who’s who of the Latin American hard right, Trump’s divisions-free summit is reminiscent of recent Conservative Political Action Conferences (CPACs) held in Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay. Like those conferences — in which Argentina’s anarcho-capitalist president Javier Milei and Chile’s far-right president-elect José Antonio Kast have shared the stage with MAGA luminaries like Steve Bannon — the 'Shield' summit appears designed to further promote Trump-aligned far-right cultish ideologies in the Americas. As an added bonus, it will be held at the Trump National Doral Miami, ensuring a solid weekend of revenue for Trump’s resort as well as quick, easy travel to and from Mar-a-Lago for the US president."
Continued at link:
https://cepr.net/publications/the-donroe-doctrine-fan-club-kicks-off-in-miami/
'165 Massacred Schoolgirls in Iran -- and the Silence That Exposes the West's Moral Selectivity'
"In an era when images can circle the globe in seconds and newsrooms claim to uphold universal humanitarian principles; one might expect the killing of 165 schoolgirls inside a primary school to dominate international headlines. One would expect emergency debates, moral outrage, and relentless coverage. Yet in the southeastern Iranian city of Minab—where Israeli-American strikes obliterated classrooms filled with children—the world’s most influential media institutions have responded with something far more revealing than condemnation: they have responded with silence."
"These were not combatants. They were not militants. They were children seated at their desks, pens in their hands, notebooks open before them, studying, whispering to classmates, and imagining futures that stretched decades ahead. In seconds, that ordinary school day turned into a massacre. Desks became splintered wreckage, classrooms collapsed into dust, and rows of coffins replaced rows of pupils."
"Yet the names of these girls—165 lives extinguished before they truly began—barely entered the global conversation."
"This omission is not the product of oversight. It reflects something far more structural: the hierarchy of victims that governs much of the contemporary information order. In theory, modern Western media institutions present themselves as defenders of human rights and guardians of moral accountability. In practice, their editorial priorities often mirror geopolitical interests with striking precision."
Continued at link:
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/minab-massacre-western-silence
'Trump plans executive order to address college sports issues'
"ESPN, WASHINGTON -- After a plea for help from the highest levels of college athletics, President Donald Trump on Friday said he would write an executive order within a week that would 'solve all of the problems' brought forth in an unprecedented meeting at the White House to address the future of college sports."
"Trump, who was joined in the East Room by about 50 people from varied backgrounds, hosted the first 'Saving College Sports' roundtable with vice chairs Secretary of State Marco Rubio, New York Yankees president Randy Levine, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis."
"The group included other politicians, sports celebrities, media executives, conference commissioners, university presidents and chancellors and athletic directors. Those who spoke delivered a similar message: college sports needs federal legislation to restore order in the NIL space and its overall economics."
" 'I will have an executive order within one week, and it will be very all-encompassing,' Trump said. 'And we're going to put it forward, and we're going to get sued, and we're going to see how it plays, okay, but I'll have an executive order which will solve every problem in this room, every conceivable problem, within one week, and we'll put it forward. We will get sued. That's the only thing I know for sure.' "
Continued at link:
https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/48126931/donald-trump-plans-executive-order-solve-every-problem-raised-college-sports-panel
WTF?
'Up There With My Lai': Investigations Find US Was Likely Behind Iranian School Massacre
"US investigators reportedly believe that American forces were behind the bombing of an Iranian girls’ school that killed more than 160 people—mostly young children—during the initial wave of attacks launched Saturday by President Donald Trump in coordination with the Israeli military."
"Citing two unnamed officials, Reuters reported Thursday that US military investigators have found it is 'likely' that American forces were responsible for the deadly strike on the school in the southern Iranian town of Minab, though the investigation has not yet been completed. Schools are protected under international law, and targeting them is a war crime."
“ 'Reuters was unable to determine more details about the investigation, including what evidence contributed to the tentative assessment, what type of munition was used, who was responsible, or why the U.S. might have struck the school,' the outlet noted. 'The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters, did not rule out the possibility that new evidence could emerge that absolves the U.S. of responsibility and points to another responsible party in the incident.' "
“ 'If a US role were to be confirmed,” Reuters added, “the strike would rank among the worst cases of civilian casualties in decades of US conflicts in the Middle East.' "
Continued at link:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-bombed-iran-girls-school
'Cowardly and Despicable': Hegseth Condemned for Sinking of 'Defenseless' Iranian Ship
"US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday was condemned for his boasts on Wednesday about sinking an Iranian military ship after allegations emerged that it was 'defenseless' at the time it was torpedoed in international waters by a US submarine."
"Military.com reported Thursday that the Iranian ship had been departing from a biennial multinational naval training exercise that it had been invited to participate in by the Indian government."
"In a social media post, former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal said there was no way that the Iranian ship could have been perceived as any kind of military threat."
“ 'I am told that as per protocol for this exercise ships cannot carry any ammunition,' he wrote. 'It was defenseless... The attack by the US submarine was premeditated as the US was aware of the Iranian ship’s presence in the exercise to which the US navy was invited but withdrew from participation at the last minute, presumably with this operation in mind.' "
"Drop Site News reporter Ryan Grim noted that, in addition to striking what appears to have been a defenseless boat, the US also didn’t help rescue any of the shipwrecked men who were aboard the vessel."
Continued at link:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/hegseth-iran-war-crimes
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