An Open Letter While Iran Resists an Illegal War of Aggression

Source: In These Times
by Vijay Prashad

“Dear friends and colleagues, The United States and Israel launched a war of aggression against Iran in February of this year. For six months, US missiles and bombs have fallen upon civilian and military targets inside the country. Hospitals, schools, energy facilities, and neighbourhoods have been struck. The 168 schoolgirls killed in Minab have become the terrible symbol of this war. Iranians have been forced to live under the constant expectation of another attack, while Iranian families outside the country endure the peculiar agony of watching the destruction from afar. This follows on three years of Israeli genocide in Gaza, which has been carried out due to the relentless military support of the United States.” (08/27/26)

https://inthesetimes.com/article/vijay-prashad-gaurdian-scissors-open-letter-iran-resists-illegal-war-aggression

Steve Trinward

Military trial date set for alleged mastermind of 9/11 attacks

Source: NBC News

“A military judge ruled Wednesday that the man accused of being the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks will stand trial starting in June 2028. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be prosecuted alongside others suspected of conspiring in the attacks: Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi. Mohammed is accused of orchestrating the plot to crash hijacked planes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. A fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania during the attacks. He has been held at the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, since 2006.” [editor’s note: He was entitled to a speedy, REAL, legal trial 20 years ago; the US regime has spent 20 years fighting to just hold a fake, illegal “trial” instead. The delay kind of eliminated the publicity value of the show – TLK] (08/26/26)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/military-trial-date-set-alleged-mastermind-sept-11-attacks-ksm-rcna594621

Thomas L. Knapp

Economists Who Weren’t Worried About the Debt Are Now Panicking

Source: The Atlantic
by Will Gottsegen

“America’s national debt hit $40 trillion last week. That number certainly feels like something worth panicking over—the mind balks at all the zeros. But although the debt has been in the trillions for decades, not everyone has considered it a problem. One camp of economists has been warning about the perils of high debt for years: Budget hawks predicted that if the country kept spending and didn’t raise taxes enough to keep pace, the resulting fiscal crisis could be devastating. But others—the doves—have brushed it off. … We’re nowhere near a complete failure of the Treasury market, and yet, over the past couple of years, some economists who were once more dovish have switched teams.” (08/26/26)

https://archive.is/BRN2E

Thomas L. Knapp

EU regimes revive plan to use frozen Russian assets for Ukraine

Source: Financial Times [UK]

“EU countries including Sweden, the Netherlands, Spain and Poland are urging Brussels to renew efforts to leverage immobilised Russian sovereign assets to fund Ukraine, in response to fears that Kyiv faces a renewed funding crisis. Plans to fund Ukraine using more than €200bn in Russian central bank assets held in the EU under sanctions collapsed last winter as Belgium, where the majority are held, blocked the initiative. But a letter from a coalition of states to the European Commission will call on the EU’s executive to restart work on the concept, according to four people briefed on the document, and seek clarity on any progress in alternative legal and technical frameworks that could provide a solution to Belgium’s veto.” (08/27/26)

https://archive.is/DOMXw

Thomas L. Knapp

“A Deal Written in Pencil”: Tariffs Are Erasing America’s Credibility

Source: The Daily Economy
by David Hebert

“Hours after the trade negotiations collapsed and the United States imposed a 50-percent tariff on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods on August 22, Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, stood before reporters and told them what lesson Canada had drawn from 18 months of dealing with Washington. In his words, Canada understood that America ‘would put a series of tariffs on its closest allies and use economic integration as a weapon. That its signature was written in pencil.’ … Tariff rates can be haggled over and retaliation can be unwound, but a signature written in pencil means that there is no real reason for anyone to negotiate, because there is no commitment. Canada did not arrive at this position quickly. It got there the hard way, by giving Washington what it asked for three times and watching a trade deal spearheaded by the very same man evaporate and be replaced by new tariffs.” (08/26/26)

https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/a-deal-written-in-pencil-tariffs-are-erasing-americas-credibility/

Thomas L. Knapp