“Because defense contracts often prevent the military from repairing its own equipment, critics say weapons companies are price-gouging the Pentagon at every turn. As experts and observers tell RS, the military’s lack of a ‘right to repair’ doesn’t just allow defense contractors to charge thousands of dollars, for fixes that could be done for free or very cheaply. Rather, the Pentagon’s dependence on weapons makers for maintenance undermines military readiness. Namely, contractors’ extensive repair delays and sweeping decisions about whether to service gear routinely leave warfighters without critical equipment and weapons systems — even while deployed.” (06/01/26)
“Recent reporting from Axios suggests that President Donald Trump is considering a new nuclear deal with Iran as a way to turn the temporary ceasefire into something longer-term and more sustainable. It also suggests that the Iranian regime is interested in playing ball. The reporting is light on details, but suggests that the deal will have the same core ingredients as the one negotiated by President Barack Obama and signed in 2015 that the U.S. later left — some kind of financial/sanctions relief in exchange for verification of promises not to pursue a weapons program.” (06/01/26)
“Over the last twenty years, illiberal forces have coordinated ideas, personnel, and finances across international borders. Liberals can learn from this.” (06/01/26)
“Yes, millions of dollars were poured into the Kentucky primary of Rep. Thomas Massie to defeat him by a collective entity that can fairly be referred to as the Israel lobby, and that lobby succeeded in its mission. Massie lost and that foreign interest group is the primary reason why. It’s a fact of history.” (06/01/26)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“The UK is getting crazier and crazier in its defense of Israel. Now they’re canceling the visas of mainstream normie political pundits for criticizing the state of Israel, and investigating people for antisemitic hate crimes when they denounce Zionists who aren’t even Jewish. American progressive commentator Cenk Uygur and his nephew Hasan Piker have both been denied visas by the British government, saying they were blocked from entering the country because of their criticism of Israel. ‘I’ve been banned from the UK,’ Uygur said in a tweet. ‘I tried to get on a flight to London to attend SXSW London and give a speech at Oxford. I’ve been banned for criticizing Israel. Are we free anymore? This is oppression of Western citizens by our own governments on behalf of a different country!'” (06/01/26)
“Anti-AIPAC sentiment is helping to swing Democratic primaries across the country. In Michigan, the pro-Israel group’s support for Rep. Haley Stevens has become somewhat of an anchor weighing down her Senate bid. In Philadelphia, a liberal group that had received some support from AIPAC’s network just once found that the association was now toxic, hurting its ability to help a candidate. And in the race to replace Hoyer, Boafo got condemned by other Democrats for his support from AIPAC’s best-known campaign committee. … As progressive Democrats use weariness of war in Iran and skepticism of big money to keep driving voters away from AIPAC, however, other sectors of the party are getting dragged down.” (06/01/26)
“Proper editors, back when that was still a thing, would not sign off on an article until the reporter had gotten to the heart of the matter and captured the essence of the other worldview. But none of that happens in health science reporting today. Instead, these wet-behind-the-ears reporters all follow the same script — ‘anyone who disagrees with the mainstream narrative must be a nutter who could not possibly be understood by anyone in polite society.’” (06/01/26)
“Could it be that Israel’s 30-year narrative about Iran – one that persuaded US President Donald Trump to wage a criminal and disastrous war of aggression – was always a fiction, an invention cooked up in Tel Aviv? Far from Tehran posing an existential danger to Israel, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed for decades, might Israel’s real fear be that a stronger Iran would undermine its unique leverage over Washington, threatening its status as the region’s sole – and unmonitored – nuclear power? Might large parts of the globe be facing economic meltdown simply so that Israel can remain the Middle East’s top dog – an unaccountable apartheid state committing genocide against the Palestinian people and ethnically cleansing southern Lebanon? We got a definitive answer last week, care of the New York Times. It is an uncompromising yes to all of these questions.” (06/01/26)
“Impatient anarchists are very often looking for someone to blame, for something to steal, or for some type of recognition. The world will someday leave rulers behind, but only once most people are ready for it, and that time must come organically, not by force. The necessary recognition and fortitude must grow into place.” (05/31/26)