Wednesday, July 2, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

US sends bombers to the Middle East – to “defend Israel”

The escalation in the Middle East

Published 3 November 2024
– By Editorial Staff
Bombers of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress type.
2 minute read

To defend Israel and protect US troops in the region, additional US warships, fighter jets and bombers will be sent to the Middle East, the US Department of Defense announced.

In keeping with our commitments to the protection of U.S. citizens and forces in the Middle East, the defense of Israel, and de-escalation through deterrence and diplomacy, the Secretary of Defense ordered the deployment of additional ballistic missile defense destroyers, fighter squadron and tanker aircraft, and several U.S. Air Force B-52 long-range strike bombers to the region”, the department writes in a press release.

However, preparing the fleet of aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln for departure will take time and it is expected that forces will start arriving in the region in the coming months.

These movements demonstrate the flexible nature of U.S. global defense posture and U.S. capability to deploy world-wide on short notice to meet evolving national security threats”, it said.

Warning to Iran

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin specifically warns Iran and its allies against attacking US personnel or interests in the region, saying that if they do, we “will take every measure necessary to defend our people”.

The US already has a large military presence in the region and recently decided to deploy the THAAD missile defense system on Israeli soil.

The US is generally considered to be Israel’s most important ally, and analysts point out that Tel Aviv’s wars and bombing campaigns are effectively enabled by US support and funding, while Washington consistently blocks any calls for sanctions or a ceasefire.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has threatened a “crushing response” to further attacks on Iran or its allies.

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Trump’s top diplomat compares Syria’s jihadist leader to George Washington

The escalation in the Middle East

Published today 10:17
– By Editorial Staff
Ahmed al-Sharaa and America's first president George Washington (1732-1799).
3 minute read

The US government is considering removing Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa – a former jihadist leader within the terrorist group al-Qaeda – from its global terrorist list. Meanwhile, American top diplomats are comparing him to America’s first president George Washington.

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order dismantling major parts of the comprehensive sanctions program against Syria. Simultaneously, he has ordered a review of the terrorist classification of Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani, the Islamist terrorist leader who now governs the country after Bashar al-Assad’s secular government was overthrown by Islamist groups.

According to the order, which was made public on Monday, broad financial restrictions against Syria are lifted, while targeted sanctions against Assad and his former government remain. HTS – Hayat Tahrir al-Sham – and other militant groups involved in Assad’s fall are not directly affected, but the order opens the door for changes.

Trump instructs Secretary of State Marco Rubio to review both HTS’s status as a foreign terrorist organization and al-Sharaa’s designation as a “specially designated global terrorist”. Syria’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, implemented in 1979, will also be reconsidered.

Historical parallels

The decision comes in the wake of Trump’s notable meeting with Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh in May. The focus then was on Syria’s reconstruction and a possible normalization of relations with Israel. Trump described the new leadership in Damascus as deserving “a chance at greatness”.

To lead contacts with Damascus, Trump has appointed Thomas Barrack as Special Envoy for Syria. Barrack is a former ambassador to Turkey and longtime confidant of the president.

On Monday, Barrack commented to reporters about the “controversy here, of somebody who had been al-Nusrah and had been considered a bad guy who all of a sudden becomes the leader” – and drew a historical parallel between Syria’s political transformation and the early years of U.S. independence.

“And in thinking through it, if you remember, we had a revolutionary war that lasted 14 months.  And we had brutality.  We had the Battles of Concord, the Battle of Lexington.  And from 1776 when we declared independence, it was 12 years until we got a president.  And who was the president?  The president was a general.  Who was the general?  It was George Washington”.

The American Revolutionary War actually lasted over eight years, between 1775 and 1783.

“And in those 12 years, we were defining everything.  We were defining a constitution, we were defining the framework, we were defining a judiciary – trying to figure out where we’re going before we ever had the election”, Barrack continued.

Trump: “Young attractive guy”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has previously warned that Syria has become “a playground for jihadist groups, including ISIS and others”. He also admitted that the new leadership in Damascus “didn’t pass their background check with the FBI”, but emphasized that the US must still support the development to counter greater regional instability.

“The US is taking further actions to support a Syria that is stable, unified, and at peace with itself and its neighbors”, Rubio wrote in a post on X on Monday.

Donald Trump has previously caused some controversy when he described the Syrian Islamist leader and terrorist as a “young, attractive guy, very strong past” and a “fighter”.

The Nordic Times has in several previous articles highlighted al-Sharaa’s/al-Julani’s background as an Islamist terrorist and how, after Assad’s overthrow, he was suddenly being promoted by Western powers as a legitimate political leader.

Israeli settlers attacked their own military base

The escalation in the Middle East

Published 30 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
The extreme settler movement advocates for ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and aims to take over the areas where they live.
3 minute read

A large number of extreme Jewish settlers attacked an Israeli military base in the occupied West Bank on Sunday evening. According to the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), vehicles were vandalized, property was set on fire, graffiti was sprayed, and soldiers were attacked.

The attack is described as one of the most serious incidents where settlers have turned against their own country’s security forces. The violence follows several similar attacks targeting Palestinian villages and communities, and growing anger over Israeli authorities arresting several of those responsible.

On Wednesday, over 100 settlers invaded the town of Kfar Malik, set fire to property and opened fire on Palestinians trying to defend their homes, according to Najeb Rostom, head of the local council. Three Palestinians were killed after Israeli military intervention. Five settlers were arrested in connection with the attacks.

– No civilized country can tolerate violent and anarchic acts of burning a military facility, damaging IDF property and attacking security personnel by citizens of the country, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Images in Israeli media show young, religious men associated with “hilltop youth”, a militant settler movement long accused of systematically attacking Palestinians and their property. The movement often establishes illegal outposts in the West Bank and has become a symbol of the most violent branch of the settler movement.

“Jewish extremists”

Security forces used stun grenades to disperse the crowd at the military base north of Ramallah, and the military published images of damaged infrastructure, which was reportedly used to prevent attacks and maintain security.

Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Jewish Power party) – himself previously convicted of racist incitement and supporting terror groups – unusually condemned the attack:

– Attacking security forces, security facilities, and IDF soldiers who are our brothers, our protectors, is a red line, and must be dealt with in full severity. We are brothers, he wrote on X.

Opposition leader and centrist Yair Lapid was much more direct:

– These are Jewish terrorists, gangs of criminals, who feel backed by the (governing) coalition, he said on Israel Army Radio.

Settlers attack West Bank’s last Christian village

Ben-Gvir has long defended settler violence, and his influence has grown under Netanyahu’s leadership. Critics argue this has legitimized increasingly extreme violence – even directed at the country’s own authorities.

Defense Minister Israel Katz promised to crack down on the violence and urged settlers to immediately start respecting their own country’s soldiers.

Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War in 1967. Palestinians claim these areas for a future state. Today, about three million Palestinians and 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, but the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law.

Recently, The Nordic Times reported how residents in the last entirely Christian village in the West Bank warned about constant shooting from militant settlers. The newspaper has also highlighted how settlers openly advocate for complete ethnic cleansing in Gaza and consider even Palestinian children to be terrorists.

Sweden Democrats leader supports continued strikes on Iran

The escalation in the Middle East

Published 27 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
According to the leader of the Sweden Democrats it is fundamentally positive if the bombings continue - and escalate - so that the Iranian regime falls.
3 minute read

Jimmie Åkesson, leader of the Sweden Democrats party, supports the US and Israeli attacks against Iran – and would like to see more of the regime’s leaders eliminated through continued bombing.

– I believe this is the only way to achieve political change within any reasonable time frame, he claims.

During an appearance at Almedalen Week (an annual Swedish political forum) in Visby, he commented to Swedish news agency TT about the American bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities.

– It has both positive and negative aspects. And we’ll have to see what happens. But fundamentally, I think it’s good.

According to the Sweden Democrats leader, “evil must be fought with harsh measures”, and he assesses that the Iranian regime has been significantly weakened by the attacks.

His hope is that the bombings will continue – but with a focus on eliminating leading representatives of the Iranian state – the same approach advocated by Netanyahu’s government and Israel’s military.

– The best outcome would be to follow through with this to achieve change in Iran after almost 50 years of oppression.

– Now they have primarily destroyed these nuclear facilities, which is of course very good. But certainly, continued bombing, continuing to eliminate leaders of this Islamist regime, that’s a very effective way to bring about change.

“Israel is defending itself”

Regarding the ongoing genocide in Gaza, Åkesson also gives his support to Netanyahu and Israel’s actions, claiming that the Israeli regime is acting in a way that is directly necessary and “doing what needs to be done”.

– Of course, this should be done within the framework of international law. Israel isn’t perfect, they’ve surely made mistakes in various contexts, but overall, the right to self-defense is completely reasonable, he says and continues:

– They’re defending themselves in a war not against a state but against a terrorist organization that doesn’t follow any international laws of war.

“Seems more loyal to Israel than to Sweden”

However, not everyone is impressed by Åkesson’s nearly unlimited support for Israel, and Gustav Kasselstrand, leader of the nationalist party Alternative for Sweden, writes on X that “Åkesson seems more loyal to Israel than to Sweden”.

“Now he wants to see a new globalist war in the Middle East, this time against a sovereign state like Iran – which hasn’t attacked another country throughout its existence. But the regime must be changed as it disturbs American-Israeli interests in the region, and it should preferably be done with bombs; as if we don’t have enough horrific examples when this was done in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Libya”, he notes.

Kasselstrand, who has a background as chairman of the Sweden Democrats’ youth organization, also points out that the wars and regime change operations in the Middle East have almost without exception resulted in massive refugee flows and Muslim mass immigration to Europe – phenomena that the Sweden Democrats themselves claim they want to stop.

“How can it be ‘fighting Islamism’ to start a new devastating war with gigantic refugee flows of Muslims entering Europe?” he asks.

Fury from Israel lobby as Trump halts bombing campaign

Donald Trump's USA

Published 25 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Emily Shrader, an American political activist, has long worked to expand U.S. support for Israel and advocate for regime change in Iran.
3 minute read

Donald Trump’s harsh criticism of Israel and his call for the country to stop bombing Iranian targets has not been well received by the influential and bellicose Israel lobby.

American-Israeli opinion maker and lobbyist Emily Schrader is one of those calling for the hostilities to continue, going so far as to claim that Trump “is in bed with Qatar”.

Although the stated goal of the Israeli and then US attacks on Iran was initially claimed to be to eliminate the country’s ability to develop nuclear weapons, a long line of Israeli and neoconservative American voices have quickly shifted focus and are now demanding that the Iranian regime be overthrown – with US help.

After Trump criticized Israel in harsh terms and ordered the country’s military to stop bombing Iran, the Israeli lobby’s anger was not long in coming – and several of the figures who recently praised Trump for bombing Iranian nuclear facilities are now trying to discredit the president and portray him as an enemy.

One of those most upset that Trump has taken a stand against Israel’s bombing is Emily Schrader, who has long been involved in two issues: overthrowing and replacing the Iranian regime and increasing US support for Israel.

The lobbyist, who has both US and Israeli citizenship, claims that Trump “is in bed with Qatar” because he has demanded that the bombings stop.

“It must be done”

She also states that Iran’s leadership must be overthrown – and claims that no other alternatives are acceptable.

“The only way to ensure peace in the region is a regime change in Iran. It doesn’t have to be done through war, but it must be done. Trump is painfully naive as to the ideology and motivating factors of the Islamic regime in Iran”, she claims.

In another angry post, she claims that “In the last 24 hours, Donald Trump guaranteed a future war”.

“They’ll discard and mock him”

Critics point out that the Israel lobby is never satisfied – regardless of the concessions and efforts the US makes to appease Tel Aviv – and that they are only interested in supporting Trump if they can exploit him for their own purposes.

“Trump literally bombed Iran – he did that! – for this country’s government. The next day, if he doesn’t obey the next order they make up for him to do, Netanyahuists say he’s part of the Qatar World Conspiracy”, says Curt Mills, executive director of The American Conservative.

“If this isn’t evidence they’ll discard and mock him once he’s no longer president and they’ve used him, nothing is”, he continues.

The Nordic Times has previously highlighted the remarkable influence of the Israel lobby over American politics – and, among other things, pointed out how AIPAC, the largest pro-Israel lobby group, openly boasted during the last election that almost all the candidates they had financed won their respective elections.

“AIPAC endorsed 362 candidates and won in every primary we had a candidate on the ballot! We helped our friends win and defeated 11 anti-Israel candidates”, they proudly declared.

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