Puppet MastersS


Map

Caspian lifeline redraws the Iran - Russia war map

Pezeshkian Putin $
President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian • President of Russia Vladimir Putin
The war pressure on Iran has always been mapped from the south. US bases ring the Persian Gulf, Israeli intelligence probes the region from Azerbaijan and beyond, and Washington's naval power has long treated the narrow waterways around Iran as a pressure point.

The more the US-Israel axis leans on the Gulf, the more Tehran's strategic depth shifts northward, across a closed body of water that western planners cannot easily dominate.

The Caspian Sea now matters because it gives Iran and Russia something both states urgently need, a direct, politically controlled route outside the reach of hostile land corridors.

Overland trade must pass through states that are either aligned with Washington or unwilling to risk US secondary pressure. The Caspian, by contrast, links the two countries without a third-party gatekeeper.

Fire

Netanyahu's 'hair was on fire' after Trump call on Iran - Axios

Netanyahu
© Times of IsraelIsraeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu
Israel wants to resume the war, while Washington and regional mediators push Tehran to accept a peace deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was furious after a tense call with US President Donald Trump over a new proposal to end the war with Iran, Axios reported on Wednesday, citing three sources familiar with the matter.

One US source briefed on the conversation said Netanyahu's "hair was on fire" after the call, which took place after Trump delayed a "very major attack" on Iran, saying Gulf leaders asked the US to give diplomacy more time.

The US president has since said the US and Iran are "right on the borderline" between a deal and renewed war.

Trump told reporters on Wednesday:
"Either have a deal or we're going to do some things that are a little bit nasty. The war could resume 'very quickly' unless the US receives 100% good answers."
Netanyahu is "highly skeptical" of the negotiations and wants to resume the war in order to further degrade Iran's military capabilities and weaken the country by destroying critical infrastructure, Axios reported.

No Entry

Netherlands to suspend all trade with illegal Israeli settlements in occupied West Bank, Golan Heights

Syrian Golan Heights
© AP Golan Heights
Jewish pogroms across the West Bank have surged significantly since the start of the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten announced on 22 May that his country will suspend all trade in goods originating from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and the Syrian Golan Heights.

The decision was approved in principle by the Council of Ministers.

Jetten said the measure is intended to "prevent Dutch society from contributing, through our economic activities, to illegal occupation and the maintenance of illegal settlements," according to his press conference.

Comment: 23,800 attacks on Palestinians per year averages 63/day.


Cruise Missle

Best of the Web: Russia hammers Kiev with massive barrage likely including Oreshnik hypersonic missiles

oresnik strike Kiev russia ukraine
© Times of IndiaScreen captures of Russia's massive strike on Kiev, May 24, 2026 in retaliation for the bombing of a children's school in Lugansk.
Russia answers Kiev's attack on the Starobelsk school

Less than two days after President Vladimir Putin vowed revenge for a Ukrainian strike that hit a secondary-school dormitory in the Russian-controlled Luhansk oblast, Russia unleashed a massive, multi-weapon barrage on Kiev early Sunday, one that apparently included the rare use of Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missiles.


Comment: Putin vows revenge for Ukrainian attack on Lugansk school dorm


Rocket

Escobar: The Russia-China spaceship rushes towards planet multipolar

Putin Xi
© UnknownRussian President Vladimir Putin • Chinese President Xi Jinping
The New Silk Roads/BRI and its derivations such as the Northern Sea Route/Arctic Silk Road remain alive and kicking.

SHANGHAI - This is it.

The Russia-China strategic partnership, the leaders in the process of Eurasia integration, the leaders of multipolar bodies BRICS and the SCO, have formally endorsed and boosted the drive towards multipolarity and a new system of international relations via a strategic joint declaration signed, sealed and delivered during President Putin's visit to China this Wednesday.

This is one for the History books - in several more ways than one. I was privileged to follow the proceedings in Beijing during the whole day at the Aurora College, a top Shanghai private school and university, among a fabulous congregation of teachers and students.

So we had plenty of time to discuss the implications of how the Top Two Eurasia powers - and global powers - are establishing the lineaments of a new geopolitical future for most of mankind. The exceptions will be exceptionalist recalcitrants and vassals addicted to commit serial political suicide.

We all remember President Xi's visit to Russia in 2023, when leaving the Kremlin, side-by-side with Putin, he voiced what he was already polishing for some time, in a very concise way: "Right now there are changes we have not seen in 100 years." And then Xi and Putin agreed that now, "we are the ones driving these changes together".

The practical result is the sharply focused Beijing joint statement, penned by unmistakable "civilizations with ancient history."

Comment: Big order, little time, many benefits...the set-up and trigger for Newton's Third Law.


Headphones

Strong indicators CIA was tracking DNI Gabbard team emerged months ago

Tulsi
© UnknownDNI Tulsi Gabbard
Based on my reporting, it was well known in national security circles that a CIA investigative unit had sent emails to several members of DNI Gabbard's Director's Initiatives Group — or DIG — demanding they come in for questioning.

While the CIA unit routinely conducts polygraphs and investigations, the timing of the request was concerning. It did not appear to be part of a standard security clearance review.

The alleged CIA monitoring of the Director's Initiatives Group was described as tracking "every keystroke" on their government computers and devices. While there is no expectation of privacy on government computers and users often see a log-on warning, it did not appear to be routine counterintelligence work by the CIA.

In recent testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen @RandPaul, CIA Senior Operations Officer and whistleblower James Erdman III alleged that the CIA illegally spied on the computers and phones of the Director's Initiatives Group, along with their investigations and contacts with whistleblowers.

Arrow Up

Trump exerts iron grip on Republican Party with Massie defeated

Massie
© Getty ImagesMassie could still make life difficult for Trump in the final months of his term
Another one bites the dust.

The past few weeks had been billed as a retribution tour for Donald Trump, as he settles old scores with his critics within the Republican party.

Call it what you will, but the evidence is now overwhelming that the Republican party is Trump's party and nothing - not an unpopular war in Iran, not sagging poll numbers among the general public, not rising consumer prices, not concerns about billion-dollar White House ballrooms - has changed that.

Thomas Massie, the independent-minded congressman from Kentucky, was comfortably defeated on Tuesday in the Republican primary race to decide who goes forward to take on the Democrats in November's midterms. The Trump-backed candidate Ed Gallrein is heading towards a 55% share of the vote.

Republican rebel Massie, a constant thorn in Trump's side, is just the latest in a political casualty count that is now stretching into double figures. His transgressions were multitude.

Comment: Objective: Trump is in need of validation and deflection.


Footprints

Tulsi Gabbard resigns as Director of National Intelligence

Tulsi Gabbard
© Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesDirector of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard
Her husband Abraham was recently diagnosed with extremely rare form of bone cancer, she wrote in resignation letter

Tulsi Gabbard is resigning from her post as Director of National Intelligence to support her husband through his battle with "an extremely rare form of bone cancer," Fox News Digital learned.

Gabbard notified President Donald Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office Friday. Her last day at ODNI is expected to be June 30.

Fox News Digital exclusively obtained her formal resignation letter, in which Gabbard says she is "deeply grateful for the trust you placed in me and for the opportunity to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for the last year and a half."

"Unfortunately, I must submit my resignation, effective June 30, 2026," she wrote. "My husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer."

Comment: The read on Gabbard's resignation is not just for her spouse's health, true though that is and all respect for it, but also that Trump is heading into another disastrous round of engagement with Iran, and she wants no part of it.






Star of David

Abducted Gaza flotilla activists recount 'super sadistic' torture, sexual abuse while detained in Israel

ben gvir samoud gaza flotilla arrested tortured
Samoud Flotilla members were zip-tied and put in stress positions while being taunted by Israel's Interior Minister Ben Gvir
Activists recounted being severely beaten and starved during their illegal imprisonment

International activists with the Global Sumud Flotilla revealed upon their arrival in Turkiye on 21 May that they were subjected to sexual abuse and torture during their abduction in Israel.

Survivors reported prolonged beatings, starvation, and degrading strip searches, with reports of rape and sexual assault.

Arriving in Istanbul, the activists bore clear signs of torture and mistreatment with swollen hands, broken bones, and severely bruised by the violence. Footage captured upon their arrival showed detainees displaying their injuries, one removing a scarf to reveal painful wounds sustained in custody.

Comment:



ben gvir quote palestinians crushed starved israel



Mr. Potato

Irrelevant Europe

borell Head of the European Defense Agency
© AP Photo / Jean-Francois Badias / Guliver imageJosep Borrell, Head of the European Defense Agency
Europe is the 'jungle' now. No garden left to speak of.

Josep Borrell is a Spanish socialist who held several high-ranking positions in the European Union. Until 2024, he was a vice-president of the European Commission and the high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy. In that capacity, he ran Europe's External Action Service, which is the diplomatic body that executes Europe's foreign policy decisions around the world. He remains a man with a great deal of influence over European perspectives.

In 2022, Borrell created a bit of an international incident when he described Europe as a "garden" and the rest of the world as a "jungle." "We have built a garden," he told aspiring European diplomats in Bruges, Belgium. "Most of the rest of the world is a jungle. The jungle could invade the garden. The gardeners should take care of it."

As the head of the European Defense Agency, Borrell's comments made strategic sense. As he said in that same speech, "The jungle has a strong growth capacity...Walls will never be high enough to protect the garden. The gardeners have to go to the jungle, Europeans have to be much more engaged with the rest of the world. Otherwise, the rest of the world will invade us, by different ways and means."