see the 18-second video at the first link 
 
Meanwhile, back at the Ranch 
 
 
 
https://x.com/Jvnior/status/2046641161209528614
Jvnior  @Jvnior   
 
LIVE FOOTAGE: After days of being trapped under the rubble, two Palestinian children were saved by First Responders.   
 
They were found hugging each other.  
 
——————— 
 
https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2046961446655754738
The Kobeissi Letter  @KobeissiLetter   
 
BREAKING: Iran currently has “no plans” to negotiate with the US on Friday, per Tasnim.  
 
This morning, President Trump said he was expecting talks to begin as soon as Friday.  
 
——————-  
 
https://x.com/caitoz/status/2046735503526089189
Caitlin Johnstone  @caitoz   
 
A Jesus statue vandalized by Israeli soldiers has been treated with more solemnity and contrition than any IDF massacre of real human beings over the past three years. 
 
This is happening because Israel knows its American support base of Christian Zionists will care more about the statue than all of the IDF’s attacks on Palestinian, Lebanese and Iranian human beings combined since 2023.
 

Posted by: michaelj72 | Apr 22 2026 17:06 utc | 3

Idolatry.
 
A statue is given more concern and respect than human lives.
IDF routinely massacre civilians for nothing. 
Nobody is even questioned about it.
A STATUE is damaged and two IDF get locked up for embarrassing the Regime.
 
That says everything about Israel in need to Know.
 
Appearances before Everything. 

Posted by: Effete | Apr 22 2026 17:13 utc | 5

“Recently a noted longtime critic of Israeli and American foreign policy gained a lot of attention online when Prof. Norman Finkelstein criticized Tucker Carlson’s vision of American foreign policy. Tucker has been saying that America’s political elites and Trump are obviously under the control of Netanyahu or Israel.
Finkelstein, like many others from the academic foreign policy commentariat like Noam Chomsky, has been critical for a long time of that view of American foreign policy. He and they insist: Israel is NOT the one in the drivers seat. That view of America in control of its foreign policy is simultaneously bewildering and often angering to those espousing the contrary view. To them it is just plain obvious that America has no reason to fight wars in the Middle East of its own.
According to that dominate worldview online — America is Israel’s puppet because otherwise American foreign policy makes no sense. That view is so all-pervasive online that Trump felt compelled to publicly deny it. What does America get out of it? For a long time the academic left has agreed with economist Michael Hudson when he says the goal is to control the global fossil fuel industry.”
From: Iran–I Ran So Far Away
 

Posted by: kana | Apr 22 2026 17:34 utc | 7

see the 12-second video at the third link
 
 
 
https://x.com/ww3mediaa/status/2046897356751180160
3. Dünya Savaşı  @ww3mediaa  Translated from Turkish 
 
🔴Spanish Foreign Minister: 
 
▪️Italy and Germany are blocking the suspension of the Partnership Agreement between the European Union and Israel. 
 
‘▪️When it comes to Ukraine, Germany acts like a moral guardian, but when it comes to Palestine, it plays the three wise monkeys. Germany is a hypocritical and pathetic state.
 
——————
 
https://x.com/sahouraxo/status/2046980890060783921
sarah  @sahouraxo 
 
BREAKING:  Israel dropped bombs on civilians in Al-Tiri, South Lebanon, killing 2 people, and is besieging 2 female journalists — Amal Khalil and Zaynab Faraj. 
 
They’re throwing stun grenades at ambulances attempting to reach them. 
 
In what universe is this a “ceasefire”?
 
———————–
 
https://x.com/cbonneauimages/status/2046285087071781345
courtneybonneauimages  @cbonneauimages 
 
Apocalyptic images released by Israeli media of the town of Aitaroun, which they are illegally occupying.  
 
They are burning homes and destroying civilian infrastructure. Both are war crimes.
 

Posted by: michaelj72 | Apr 22 2026 17:55 utc | 9

A lot has been said about Iran getting nuclear weapons. Probably, they do not need them. What would make a difference is long range missiles that can reach the continental US. Boeing, Raytheon…Nothing nuclear.

Posted by: bbeer | Apr 22 2026 18:03 utc | 11

michaelj72 – thank you. Keep posting 
 
karlof – ditto

Posted by: Exile | Apr 22 2026 18:12 utc | 13

@”When it comes to Ukraine, Germany acts like a moral guardian,”

Waging a nazi proxy war to conquer Ukraine and “to integrate the East European peoples”(VPR 1992) again is the opposite of moral. In that sense German foreign policy is totally consistent. Hiring and arming nazi collaborators for the “Drecksarbeit”(Merz) is an old tradition. Germany did so against Yugoslavia also:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed2E3jzwmo8&t=240

Posted by: p3t3r | Apr 22 2026 18:24 utc | 15

Posted by: Nobody Special | Apr 22 2026 18:14 utc | 14

More likely hugging the Iranian coastline for protection. Once they reach Pakistani waters they can head for Gwadar port where the Chinese are.

Posted by: Surferket | Apr 22 2026 18:34 utc | 17

Regarding the U.S. attempt to blockade Iran, I’ve been waiting for the first appearance of Iranian Q ships.   Iran has enough merchant ships available for conversion.  Iran just seized two ships it claims are associated with Israel, in retaliation for the U.S. seizure of one of its ships.  These two ships, or others, could be outfitted with naval guns, naval spotter drones and anti-ship missiles.
 
Iran could send two or three of these ships in three different directions.  As the U.S. ships moved to intercept them, Iran could make it easy for the U.S. to “catch” their ships.   However, as the U.S. ships came close, the sides of the Iranian merchant ships would fall away and attack the U.S. destroyers.  I don’t think it would end well for the Iranian Q-ships, but I also think they would have a good chance of scoring hits on the U.S. ships.  It would also force the U.S. ships to back off and be more cautious about intercepting ships coming from or going to Iran.        

Posted by: Nobody Special | Apr 22 2026 18:50 utc | 19

Wow, anybody know this guy, Ryan Rozbiani?
 
America’s Most Advanced Spy Plane Is Heading to Israel Roughly 30 intelligence analysts are on board, processing data and transmitting it DIRECTLY to forces on the ground in real time.
 
https://x.com/ryanrozbiani/status/2046843702228787335?s=43
 
 
Iran’s IRGC Issues HEAVY Warning Statement: The IRGC is ready to create achievements and surprises greater than the enemy’s understanding and calculation on the battlefield The IRGC is at the peak of readiness and determination to continue the fight against enemies, prepared for decisive, definite, and immediate confrontation with any threat and any repeated aggression by the enemies,,,,,,,
 
 
https://x.com/RyanRozbiani/status/2046825716398927904/photo/2
 
 
******
More info at the links

Posted by: Whipping Post | Apr 22 2026 18:55 utc | 21

I’ve never seen a president – I don’t care who he is – stand up to them.
 
 
It just boggles the mind.
 
They always get what they want.
 
The Israelis know what’s going on all of the time.
I got to the point where I wasn’t writing anything down.
 
If the American people understood what a grip these people have got on our government, they would RISE UP IN ARMS.
 
Our citizens certainly haven’t any idea what goes on.
 
Thomas H. Moorer (1912-2004) Admiral US Navy and Chairman, joint Chiefs of Staff during interview on 24 August 1983.

Posted by: Melaleuca | Apr 22 2026 18:59 utc | 23

This is not off topic, i hope.
What is going on in Jordan?
https://open.substack.com/pub/mitraraheb/p/how-trumps-iran-policy-triggered?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=5692ko

Posted by: Roberto | Apr 22 2026 19:03 utc | 25

Nobody Special | Apr 22 2026 18:14 utc | 14—
 
The global SLOC issue and how it will function is critical. The USN is too small today to completely blockade them all, plus its Navy is outgunned by the Russian and Chinese navies and will lose any surface battle with them. That leaves the USN’s subs. Hegseth doesn’t know squat about naval or sub operations nor does General Kaine, and presumably Hegseth’s purge has harmed both. 
 
Also, we don’t know what beyond hydrocarbons are escaping the blockade and where they will end up relative to the global economy, although there must be some logistical trackers doing that task.     

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 22 2026 19:07 utc | 27

Posted by: Surferket | Apr 22 2026 18:34 utc | 17
Yep, all they need do is stay under IRGC missile cover and the mighty US Navy won’t come close.
 
Of course it is still a breach of the ceasefire, so the IRGC gets to complain about it too.
 
Trump has engineered the worst outcome: a leaky blockade and a collapse of the ceasefire for which he begged.
 
The chess dimension now requires imaginary numbers to describe it.

Posted by: ChatNPC | Apr 22 2026 19:13 utc | 29

Jeremy Scahill of Drop Site News interviews Hassan Ahmadian, Associate Professor of Middle East Studies at Tehran University.
Most of us are familiar with Professor Marandi. Hassan Ahmadian (speaks Farsi, English and Arabic) is going viral in the GCC for debating by himself numerous panellists who only know the official narrative of the GCC states, painting Iran as the aggressor state. He’s calm and collected whilst the other panellists lose their shit … quite funny
I’ve stopped watching al Jazeera English, because of their official pro-US line. Switched to CGTN, the only factual corporate tv channel in relation to the US-Israeli war of aggression on Iran.
Anyways … very informative interview:
The Iran War at the Crossroads: Diplomacy or Escalation? An Interview With Hassan Ahmadian
 

Posted by: Jules | Apr 22 2026 19:20 utc | 31

What Tucker and others choose to disregard (consciously or un) when they note that the Iran war and the US’s other actions in support of Israel are not in the interest of the American people is that the Empire’s actions are/were never meant to be in support of the common people … it is only ever a case of what’s in the interest of the 0.1% master class and (in the American modern context) the MICIMATT interests …
Posted by: Caliman | Apr 22 2026 17:46 utc | 8

 
The American wars are waged in the name of the American people because they do benefit all Americans. Unequally, but still.
 
Americans are knowingly being deceptive when they whine about American wars not benefiting them. When the Americans protest war, what the Americans are truly saying is that not enough of the spoils of war are handed over to the bottom 99.9% of Americans, not that they don’t want the spoils of war.
 
This is analogous to the daughter of a Mafia don reclining leisurely next to the pool of her daddy’s massive mansion, complaining about daddy not getting her a horse when daddy keeps buying a bunch of fast cars and sharp suits, then getting all shocked and horrified when victims of the Mafia decide to firebomb her daddy’s house.
 
At this point, the Americans will get offended and say that they’re nothing like the spoiled kid of a mafioso. The Americans will start talking about how hard they’ve had it, but in actuality they’ve never experienced true hardship that is the daily existence of the majority in the Global South. Billions are still living with less than $10 a day, and most of the extreme poverty cases are outside America. Americans will say that the cheaper cost of living more than offsets the lower wages outside America, but if that were truly the case, then Americans wouldn’t be complaining about immigrants—the reserve army of labor created through deliberate American policies, like war, that immiserate the Global South—coming to America to take American jobs. If conditions outside America were so good, then Americans should gladly go outside America and take the jobs of non-Americans.
 
Americans all like to pretend that they are salt of the earth types, unlike those city slickers who have never done a hard day of work or gotten dirt on their hands. Well, from a global perspective, the Americans are the city slickers.
 
Americans are weeping over the senseless slaughter of the chickens in the farmhouse, bemoaning that such slaughter only benefits the the military chopping machines industrial complex and the chicken farmers (who are all Khazarian Jewish Israelis). The Americans are so distraught over the senseless death of chickens that they had to resort to stress eating a whole bucket full of chicken nuggets just to calm themselves down.
 
What did you think those chicken nuggets are made out of? Kindness and compassion?
 
Death to America
Marg bar Âmrikâ
Marg bar Âmrikâ
Marg bar Âmrikâ

Posted by: All Under Heaven | Apr 22 2026 19:22 utc | 33

Somalia has announced a ban on all Israeli ships passing through the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
 

Posted by: StrongOx | Apr 22 2026 19:25 utc | 35

Since Jordan got mentioned by somebody above – have any of you all been here?

Petra is an ancient archaeological city in southern Jordan, famously known as the “Rose City” due to the color of the sandstone from which it is carved.  It served as the capital of the Nabataean Kingdom and was a major hub for incense trade routes, flourishing between the 4th century BC and the 1st century AD. 
Key historical aspects include:

• Architecture: The city is renowned for its rock-cut architecture, including the iconic Al-Khazneh (The Treasury) and Al-Deir (The Monastery), as well as advanced water conduit systems that allowed settlement in the desert. 
• History: Established by the Nabataeans, a nomadic Arab people, Petra was annexed by the Roman Empire in 106 AD and renamed Arabia Petraea.  It declined after a series of earthquakes in the 4th and 6th centuries AD and was eventually abandoned.
• Rediscovery: The city was lost to the Western world until 1812, when Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt rediscovered it. 
• Recognition: Petra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (inscribed in 1985) and one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. 

Quite the place that place is with many items of value buried in the past I reckon – but trade is trade and trade is demanded – is it not – for the sake of well-being.
My guess is if Jordan as a place decides they are “fedup” as so many of us are then that is going to create a real pressure on the border of that forsaken ill-begotten land of bullies who really got no claim upon Israel.  But they reside there no doubt – so look at a map – the place is really rather small and if surrounded by many who really think they are nothing but bullies – and then  if the timing is done with precision – well hells bells – put them out their misery – cause turnabout is fair play – and “reap what thee sows” – is in the Bible.

Posted by: Ken Hausle | Apr 22 2026 19:28 utc | 37

Ken Hausle@ 26
The link I posted has the map you mentioned.  I am glad you recognize Iran’s options. 
Apparently, the Western media is snorting fairy dust based on their dire predictions for Iran if they do not surrender.  I posted the info as some at MoA may have obtained a supply of this fairy dust.   

Posted by: Krollchem | Apr 22 2026 19:30 utc | 39

Dear AUH – You are simply wrong on this. The system of oppression that rules the world in the interest of the international 0.01% does not care about any nationality or people. It “mines” all populations, in different ways. In the “west”, the mining is mainly financial: via taxation and unneeded inflation, which destroys quality of life. In the “south”, the mining is directed at lives, liberty, and resources. 
 
There is a technocratic 5-10% in both the western and affiliated “south” population that are also benefited by the depredations of empire: the MICIMATT and related corporate/government employees who make a better than earned living due to empire. But the 90-95% only lose.
 
The 0.01% are utterly rapacious … did you really think they’d spare “their own” people?

Posted by: Caliman | Apr 22 2026 19:36 utc | 41

Crooke provides some minority Zionist views at his site saying things like “Zionism has morphed into an ideology of extremism” and the supposed rise of “moral injures” amongst Zionist genociders from Gaza, that are clearly minority POVs given polling data saying over 85% of Zionists want the genocide to continue.
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 22 2026 18:02 utc | 10
 
Thanks b and Karlofi, both doing important work. I love Crooke, but he let it slip in one interview that his wife reads Hebrew. And who does that? And he is of course MI6 but still offers interesting views.

Posted by: Paul from Norway | Apr 22 2026 19:39 utc | 43

 
https://x.com/HalaJaber/status/2046967750669529137
Hala Jaber  @HalaJaber 
 
🚨BREAKING🚨Israeli forces are now issuing direct death threats to Lebanese journalists on WhatsApp as well as besieging them. 
Al-Akhbar correspondent @AmalKhalil83 , who has been documenting the devastation across southern Lebanon, received these messages from an Israeli number (+972 54-869-5113): 
 
“We know where you are… we will reach you… leave if you want to keep your head on your shoulders.” 
 
First message:  “Alright, my lady, you are moving from one village to another, but you still haven’t gone to enough funerals or hospitals. There is a lot of grief & sorrow behind that smile you try to show on Twitter. Let’s see what your answer will be… Is your house still standing, Anisa (Miss)? I hope so?” 
 
Second message:  “We know where you are & we will reach you when the time comes. Even though you are not important to us, in the end we will take everything into account. I suggest you flee to Qatar or somewhere else if you want to keep your head connected to your shoulders :)” 
 
This is not intimidation. This is the IDF issuing an explicit death threat to a journalist for covering their crimes. 
 
At the same time, Israeli forces besieged Amal al-Khalil & journalist Zeinab Faraj in al-Tayri, blocking the Red Cross & Lebanese Army from reaching them. 
 
They were in a delegate vehicle when a drone strike hit a vehicle behind them, killing two people. Both journalists were trapped at the scene.  
 
Amal contacted the Red Cross before her phone died. Her last message confirmed she was still safe. 
 
Rescue teams still cannot reach the two besieged journalists, Amal al-Khalil & Zeinab Faraj. They are just 500 meters away, but the road has been cut off by an Israeli strike, according to Red Cross paramedics. 
 
This is targeting journalists in real time. This is a crime.  
Pure state terrorism against the press.
 

Posted by: michaelj72 | Apr 22 2026 19:42 utc | 45

Posted by: All Under Heaven | Apr 22 2026 19:22 utc | 33

 
Americans will say that the cheaper cost of living more than offsets the lower wages outside America, but if that were truly the case, then Americans wouldn’t be complaining about immigrants—the reserve army of labor created through deliberate American policies, like war, that immiserate the Global South—coming to America to take American jobs. If conditions outside America were so good, then Americans should gladly go outside America and take the jobs of non-Americans.

 
Do not, please, mistake this vicious buffoon as some sort of Marxist, of any kind. Marxist phrases are merely used as camouflage for genocidal mania. Inasmuch as this fool has pretended the entire working class (people who must live on their wages from productive labor, because they don’t have enough property to live from) is magically the aristocracy of labor, it follows that there cannot be, according to this demented parody of Marxism, any industrial reserve army of labor, whether immigrant or not. Contriving to blame so-called Americans for exploiting immigrants’ labor is having it both ways, for polemical purposes. (AKA lying.) Aside from the fact that many immigrants are in fact Americans themselves, even if they are hyphenate Americans, many immigrants come not as workers but as petty bourgeois physicians and engineers and scientists. For that matter many Americans do work abroad, though they sensibly prefer to go to rich countries. You see, rich countries are like cities within countries, poor people will very often emigrate to them because being poor in a good neighborhood is better than being poor in an economically backward countryside. For that matter, moving from a rotting downtown area to a nicer suburban area is also very common. This person has no intelligent ideas, merely a predetermined conclusion that hundreds of millions of people should die. I still say, you first. 

Posted by: steven t johnson | Apr 22 2026 19:46 utc | 47

Posted by: Konami | Apr 22 2026 19:41 utc | 48 In today’s thread? Don’t think there’s one yet. But I’m confident somebody will be so shrewd as to opine that if Trump puts boots on the ground, the heavy casualties likely to ensue (if such an effort even manages to successfully land at all!) will destroy Trump politically. I’ve seen this kind of nonsense a number of times and candidly I think you have too. Casualties are a constraint on bourgeois democracies, as proven by the bourgeois propagandist who lamented the so-called Vietnam syndrome. The whole point of his fellow oligarchs backing Trump is they want to forget about all that tedious compromising and waffling. The empire is decaying, the masses must sweat and bleed. (The weeping will take care of itself.) The people who still have delusions about bourgeois democracy being cured by MAGA will cope by dreaming of MAGA turning against their God Trump. My suspicion is that if merely responding to my comments wasn’t regarded with suspicion, there would be pushback when I say casualties won’t deter Trump. Again, listen to what Hegseth is selling to the officer corps. 

Posted by: steven t johnson | Apr 22 2026 19:58 utc | 49

Rising Iranian star Hassan Ahmadian on Dropside News
Ryan Grim and Jeremy Scahill discuss the rising stardom of Iranian commentator Hassan Ahmadian and his interview on Drop Site News.
“He has a very understated style. At times, he just quietly and suddenly sticks the knife in the jugular of his multiple opponents…When they have to amass 5 or 6 guests to argue against him, it actually is kind of unmasking the intellectually dishonest nature of the overarching propaganda campaign, and that has made him quite popular,” Scahill said.

Posted by: Nemesis | Apr 22 2026 20:14 utc | 51

1. Let’s assume, for a moment, as a working hypothesis, that most of the commenters on this forum are human beings, with their own particular worldview, and not algorithms.
 
2. Let’s assume, at another point, as a working hypothesis, that there are algorithms programmed to log in and write a narrative, any narrative.
 
The assumption in point 2 shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows that programming a bot with characteristics similar to a human profile has been, and continues to be, the goal of those working in Artificial Intelligence.
 
Currently, building an automated agent with an apparent psychological profile that can deceive humans is beginner’s work. The so-called “Turing test” has become a specialized matter because, although there are bots that identify bots, to determine the errors that LLMs make, a human must apply contextual logical thinking.
 
LLMs have been programmed to generate the expected word, syntactically, according to a probabilistic linguistic expectation. That’s why we’re amazed when they add, multiply, or perform partial derivatives. But when you ask them to make a decision based on context, such as figuring out the best move in a chess game, unlike expert systems, they demonstrate that they don’t think. They mess up the chessboard, making illegal moves.
 
Practical decisions that concern the world are rarely predetermined. Power agents are collective, and although there are apparently elites who make decisions without others, the lines of behavior are inertial and chaotic.
 
There are tendencies that will be very difficult to counteract because there are multiple variables. You, your child, and your mother want security and finiteness. Exactly as the elites want. But, although there is inertia, we don’t live like that.
 
If I believed in something I don’t, because life’s experience has confirmed to me that all hope is a lie. And that human beings must recognize themselves in order to create an existence and a hope that does not yet exist.
 
Don’t make me wrong. If there are the possibility to be a human, then this is the time.
 
 

Posted by: Hanah | Apr 22 2026 20:21 utc | 53

Don Firineach | Apr 22 2026 19:22 utc | 32—
 
Thanks Don, but you got the title wrong–substitute World for Iran and it’s correct. I saw that it’s similar to a previous Keen video you linked to. Keen in his way does a much quicker job of exposing Neoliberalism as Junk Economics than dos Hudson. What I find curious about the model Keen uses is that it matters not what supplies the energy used in production as long as energy is available for use so production can continue. And that brings up another oddity with the graphs he shows–in 2007-9, there was no drop in available energy; rather, there was a drop in energy utilized. And the same can be said for the 2019-2021 Covid period–energy was available to use but wasn’t. And now today we have a somewhat different situation where available energy to use is being restricted from productive use and that is being predicted to cause various crises that didn’t occur during the previous two periods. That restriction was caused intentionally by two actors–the Outlaw US Empire and its Zionist proxies–that makes them responsible for whatever economic calamity occurs because available energy was forcibly restricted from producers by them.    

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 22 2026 20:23 utc | 55

@Jules | Apr 22 2026 19:20 utc | 31

Anyways … very informative interview:The Iran War at the Crossroads: Diplomacy or Escalation? An Interview With Hassan Ahmadian

Thank you for the link to the talk with Hassan Ahmadian. He is soft spoken, but extremely high information content. He is a new favourite of mine.

Posted by: Norwegian | Apr 22 2026 20:27 utc | 57

Paul from Norway | Apr 22 2026 19:39 utc | 47—
 
Crooke was directly involved in many negotiations where knowing what was actually thought and said by Zionists was essential. It may be that Alastair also reads Hebrew but not as efficiently as his wife. Your comment caused me to see if he has a Wiki bio, which is here and is rather fascinating since I had next to no knowledge of his life history prior to 1990. I suggest barflies read what for Wiki is a short bio. He was awarded the Order of St Michael and St George, which is a testament to his level of importance to the UK. IMO, he’s an extremely honest humanitarian with unique insights and connections with people in what’s a critical part of today’s world. Crooke is 76.

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 22 2026 20:42 utc | 59

Konami | Apr 22 2026 20:18 utc | 61—
 
Over my long tenure here at MoA, I’ve seen many AUH types and learned the best way to deal with them is to ignore their existence. There’re several saying about arguing with an idiot or moron and why that’s a 100% waste of time and energy best put to other uses. 

Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 22 2026 20:50 utc | 61

I thought for a while Amal Khalil had survived, it would appear they targeted the house she was found under purposefully

https://t.me/youseffares19/115597

Posted by: Ornot | Apr 22 2026 20:59 utc | 63

sarz | Apr 22 2026 20:25 utc | 65
 
I first got onto them when watching an AI scam of Mershiemer. He said something about a ship being sunk. I searched the media and that had not occurred. I then looked into the channel I had been watching and released it was AI. Go the the channel where one of these scams occurs, click on the more link. Do the same for a genuine channel put out by one of these commentators – The more link is basically an about page, a description of the channel.
 
The long talk, without break, no ums an ahhs as they think of a right word or anything like that is another dead giveaway. Most of what they say appears to be the person they are impersonating but then they slip in a mickey here and there like I found on the one impersonating Mershiemer and the one you watched impersonating Ritter.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 22 2026 21:02 utc | 65

There’s nothing you can say with certitude. 
 
Not even the factual near bloque.
 
That is why God, Protogonos, Augoeides, gives you the capacity of discrimination. The fact that you are a self-conscious human is the evidence of your humanity. The bots can’t recognize themselves in a mirror.
 
 

Posted by: Hanah | Apr 22 2026 21:12 utc | 67

– “Lebanese journalist Hamza Al-Khansa:

Authority before the test of respect.

How can the enemy [occupation] respect it [Lebanese government] at the negotiating table, when today the Mechanism Committee (America, France, UNIFIL, which consists of about 50 countries and more than 10,000 members) had to intervene in order for it to move an ambulance and a bulldozer within its territory and under its sovereignty!”

– “Leave Iran and Lebanon immediately”

US orders evacuation of nationals from Iran and Lebanon.

– “Length of ceasefire depends on the mood of the president” /

Via Youssef Fares and Sohaib Al-Masalma, partly parphrased.

Note occupation attacks and civilian casualties continue in Gaza also.

Posted by: Ornot | Apr 22 2026 21:14 utc | 69

Posted by: paddy | Apr 22 2026 20:22 utc | 63 The titanic military budgets planned by Trump will inevitably be used to expand production. We may be skeptical about their quick success in doing so, as relative deindustrialization, deskilling of labor and financialization have likely seriously damaged even the capacity to rebuild industrial output. But no, I do not think restocking from reserves for other theaters is the obstacle you think. 
 
I especially disagree that Trump is losing each day the blockade, whether Iran’s partial blockade or Trump’s so far leaky blockade of Iranian vessels, goes on. Other people are losing. But it’s like the old saying, you don’t have to be able to run faster than the bear (of world inflation with depression caused by the supply shock,) you just have to be faster than the other guy (other nations lose more.) The American empire was slowing losing, chaos is perceived as their chance to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. 
 
There seems to be a little bit of cope with your claim that strategic missile warfare by IRI has simply run out of high-value targets. To me that seems an admission that strategic air war has already failed. 

Posted by: steven t johnson | Apr 22 2026 21:22 utc | 71

That restriction was caused intentionally by two actors–the Outlaw US Empire and its Zionist proxies–that makes them responsible for whatever economic calamity occurs because available energy was forcibly restricted from producers by them.    
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 22 2026 20:23 utc | 64
 
Precisely.
 
In the second US admin, first the Tariffs and then this unprovoked war have caused chaos in Globalized supply chains – and it’s only starting. On Keen, yes he gets to the point quickly and his graphics are clear and informative – think he does shots. Hudson usually provides a feast so one has to slowly digest over the cognac. 

Posted by: Don Firineach | Apr 22 2026 21:33 utc | 73

Nothing happened today. It’s a calm day and a slow news cycle on Iran thread
 
IRCG posted a video of them seizing MSC Francesca and Epaminondas
 
Iran said the Trump post about Iran planning to execute 8 beautiful Iranian women is Ai generated fake news and Iran had no planned execution.
 
Trump rambled about Rigged Election in Virginia.
 
Iran fired on another vessel according to UKMTO
 
The news finally picked up that the US munitions remaining low.
 
It’s a slow news cycle today because Trump doesn’t say much.

Posted by: KillerDoll | Apr 22 2026 21:35 utc | 75

Nobody | Apr 22 2026 21:05 utc | 77
 
Could be just for clicks, but they are very well done. Look for any of those geopolitical commentators on youtube. More often than not, perhaps always, youtube brings up the AI fakes rather than the original person. I think they are specifically designed as a trap for the unwary. As in a state run operation. A bellingcrap of sorts. Draw viewers in with the genuine sounding forgery then slip in the lies here and there.
 
If its just some Indian scammer making a buck, it is very good, too good I think. The amount of output would likely take a team, though they have likely had AI studying and learning of each of the commentators it copies then the AI can write most of the script.
 
For anyone these days just starting to look further afield for their than the propaganda media, there are traps set everywhere.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Apr 22 2026 21:37 utc | 77

New piece from Pepe Escobar: https://strategic-culture.su/news/2026/04/22/iran-u-s-the-strategic-limbo-breakdown/Among other things, he skewers the idea that the Iranian leadership is divided or split in some way.
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 22 2026 18:11 utc | 12
michaelj72 – thank you. Keep posting karlof – ditto
Posted by: Exile | Apr 22 2026 18:12 utc | 13————————————————–Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Apr 22 2026 18:11 utc | 12—Yes, Pepe discussed that and more with Nima and then with Judge Nap.
Posted by: karlof1 | Apr 22 2026 18:30 utc | 16———————————————————-Thank you once again, karlof1.
 
MSM is peddling the divided Iran leadership story for a few days now. The Wurlitzer is sickening. That the BBC is correct is unusual.

Posted by: Acco Hengst | Apr 22 2026 21:39 utc | 79

Posted by: wagelaborer | Apr 22 2026 21:39 utc | 89
 
Yes, I took notice on that one too. Not only does Ansar Allah regularly announce they’re ready to close Bab al-Mandeb, for example today, now Iran casually mentions the Gulf cables. They’ve just added a rung to their escalation ladder and there’s nothing the other side can do about it.
 
I love to see Amazon, Microsoft, Google in that statement. Hit them were it hurts.

Posted by: Konami | Apr 22 2026 21:45 utc | 81

“Before the war, the US received warnings of Iran possessing 11 nuclear weapons”
Good to know there was a precise number. Who made it up?

Posted by: Call it what u will | Apr 22 2026 21:57 utc | 83

I still think IRI’s best way to fight is to mine the strait.
“Dozens of IRGC speedboats have been seen from satellite imagery heading in large groups away from the Middle of the Hormuz Strait suggesting they are actively mining it.” – WarMonitor

Posted by: Call it what u will | Apr 22 2026 22:01 utc | 85

Posted by: Hanah | Apr 22 2026 20:58 utc | 72
You may have a point but Palestine, Lebanon and Iran are not the proxies of China or Russia or anybody else, to put it extremely mildly on your comment.

Posted by: Sentience | Apr 22 2026 22:29 utc | 87

@82  
 
Air war alone has never “worked”.  The WW II strategic bombing study had a minority conclusion that took an economy of resources view and suggested bombing not all that good.  Equipment and manpower could have been useful in other capacity than B-17s.
 
In the example of IDF, their airpower has not even beaten Hamas with IDF boots on the ground
 
My feel on IRI offensive air is “they have to reserve missiles for higher value targets”.  They need to keep some back i.e. to take out desalination plants.  Sinking US Navy ships may be gratifying but not useful strategy.
 
That said IRI has the ground force (IRGC, Quds, Iraqi PMF, Hizbolah etc.)  to go in and take out entities like HTS in Syria, and free Lebanon once the empire is pushed out of west Asia.

Posted by: paddy | Apr 22 2026 22:40 utc | 89

This is not off topic, i hope.What is going on in Jordan?https://open.substack.com/pub/mitraraheb/p/how-trumps-iran-policy-triggered?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=5692ko
Posted by: Roberto | Apr 22 2026 19:03 utc | 25They had an interesting video about Saudi Arabia, probably why 13 thousand Pakistani troops have gone there.https://www.asiaticglobalorder.com/p/the-jig-is-up-how-the-tribal-veto

Posted by: Rhymerez | Apr 22 2026 22:54 utc | 91

Just been listening to US commentators on International Law. For the US , International Law has no more significance than the Laws of Moses: they don’t believe in it.
 
The West is gobsmacked that  relativist arguments about US being above the Law are being challenged by International Law being followed by Iran.
 
The US will lose its power if it continues to think that it can do whatever it likes , anywhere it likes.
 
Expressed in these terms, Iran must fight US illegality, simply on moral grounds, regardless of the repercussions on the world economy or on its own safety.
 
In other words, the more tripe American Lawyers talk , the worse the economic crisis will be.
 
Idiots on payrolls think its their job to talk tripe. 
 
Muslims on guidance from Allah spit out the tripe.
 
Does that mean God will save the lives of the truth speakers? No.
It means that truth is saved and martyrs perish. Plenty of room in Hell for tripe seekers. Eternal Fire is not conducive to spin and tripe.

Posted by: Giyane | Apr 22 2026 23:01 utc | 93

Unfortunately Iran (and the world) has a problem.  They do not want to push so hard that the USA will actually use nukes.
 
Yes it is probable that Trump is all bluff and bluster, but if you were the Iranian decision maker would you take the risk?  I do not think I would. Because it is NOT just Trump. Hegseth is definitely mad and possibly more dangerous. There does not seem to be any sort of US strongman/group who might intervene to lock up the nutters.
 
Look even under demented Biden it was clear that Russia feared that the USA would resort to Nukes.  That is why Russia has played cautiously (perhaps too much so) but still which of us would not be cautious if the alternative was nuclear holocaust?
 
The forces for use of nukes in the USA seem quite strong, Trump was always foolishly part of these, making the frightening comment “why have nukes if you do not use them”.  We see plenty of the same thinking here on MOA. 
 
What is even more frightening is the complete disappearance of the CND movement, that was powerful and politically significant in 1960 and even in 1980. it has disappeared (died out in most cases). There are few if any forces of opposition.  I see it only as a matter of time before some lunatic unleashes the monster and the outcome is unpredictable.
 
I know there are lots of great people here who think I am scare mongering but I think they are all to nice and too rational in the sense that they still believe that wiser heads will prevail. If there were anmy wise heads powerful enough in the USA, then we would NEVER have had Trump. He is the living proof of collective madness in the USA.
 
AND NO I do not suffer from TDS.  I am not in the USA so could not vote but i would have supported him in 2016, and thought it was pretty much a toss up in 2024.  I understand his rhetoric and the audience he is targeting.  However the issue is simply that the US system did not throw up anyone better. Not Hillary, not Kamala, not Biden, Go back further Bush Jnr,  Reagan, and no doubt many earlier Presidents just did not have the capacity to be presidents. Reagan had some excellent minders, which saved the day. Obama was not stupid but he was very weak.
 
The US system is dangerous and trump is the proof.

Posted by: watcher | Apr 22 2026 23:12 utc | 95

The world watches blindly as a beast plucks out the eyes of humanity.

Posted by: Ornot | Apr 22 2026 23:23 utc | 97

“The US system is dangerous and trump is the proof.”
Posted by: watcher | Apr 22 2026 23:12 utc | 108
 
True and Trump is completely crazy now, but I have some faith that saner heads will prevail. I do not think the Pentagon will follow orders to nuke Iran even if Trump gives them or Hegseth who is equally mad. Others around Trump, even Rubio, are backing off on supporting his madness now. Gen. Dan Caine has already countered Trump on use of nukes during the weekend from what I have read. (Some on Larry Johnson’s Sonar21 coverage). I think higher ups know they are dealing with a madman with dementia now, likely Alzheimer’s. Especially after so many generals being sacked and other resignations.
 
I don’t think Iran would nuke Israel given roughly half the population is widely dispersed Palestinians and there would be consequences for other Muslim countries like Lebanon as well. 
 
That leaves nuclear retaliation likely to be projected at the US. Some say Iran has missiles that could reach the US now (whether nuclear or not), but I also think other countries with nukes could reply with attacks or threats with advanced hypersonic delivery systems. In my view the risk of those will keep the US in check, otherwise it is mindless suicide.

Posted by: GeorgeWendell | Apr 22 2026 23:30 utc | 99