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Saturday, June 21, 2025

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https://nordictimes.com/world/fbi-raid-on-scott-ritter/

World

FBI raid on Scott Ritter

Published 8 August 2024
– By Editorial Staff
Scott Ritter firmly denies all allegations of wrongdoing.
2 minute read
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

FBI agents, along with state police, executed a search warrant at the home of former Marine and UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter.

According to Ritter himself, the raid was motivated by unsubstantiated allegations that he was working on behalf of a foreign power.

Yesterday, police and FBI agents were seen carrying dozens of boxes from Ritter’s home just south of Albany, New York. By his own admission, the search was “related to concerns apparently the US government has about violations of the Foreign Agent Restriction Act (FARA)“.

Ritter strongly denies any allegations of wrongdoing and believes that the raid was used by the authorities to try to intimidate him.

An FBI spokesperson also confirmed that “law enforcement activity in connection with an ongoing federal investigation“, had taken place, but would not say more.

Passport revoked

Ritter previously served as a UN weapons inspector in Iraq during the 1990s. He opposed the US invasion in 2003, arguing that there were no weapons of mass destruction in the country – despite US government claims to the contrary. In the end, Ritter was also proved right and no such weapons were ever found.

Today, Ritter devotes a lot of time to advocacy and analysis published on his social media channels – not least on the war in Ukraine and Gaza.

He has also appeared on Russian state broadcaster RT on several occasions and had his passport confiscated by the US government when he was traveling to attend a conference in St. Petersburg in June. Ritter’s alleged close relationship with various actors in Russia is also believed to be the main reason for the FBI raid yesterday.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) is a law that requires persons acting on behalf of or otherwise representing foreign interests to disclose this fact.

Under the law, so-called "foreign agents" - individuals or organizations that lobby on behalf of a foreign power or otherwise work to advance its interests - must register with the Department of Justice and disclose their affiliations, activities, and any financial compensation received.

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https://nordictimes.com/world/trump-voters-oppose-us-involvement-in-israels-war/

World

Trump voters oppose US involvement in Israel’s war

Donald Trump's USA

Published 19 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Many Trump voters were attracted by his promises to avoid expensive and unnecessary wars.
3 minute read
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

A majority of Donald Trump’s supporters oppose US military intervention in Israel’s war against Iran. This is according to a new opinion poll published on Wednesday.

According to the comprehensive survey by The Economist/YouGov, conducted over the weekend, 53 percent of voters who supported Trump in the 2024 presidential election want the US to stay out of Israel’s attacks.

Only 19 percent of Trump’s supporters advocate US military intervention, while 63 percent prefer the administration to try to negotiate with Iran over its nuclear program.

Among all voters in the survey, 60 percent believed that the US should refrain from using military force in the conflict.

The results reflect long-standing public support for peaceful solutions to the Iran issue. An April poll by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs-Ipsos showed that eight in ten Americans preferred diplomacy or tougher economic sanctions to military action to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

And even if diplomacy or sanctions were to fail, many Americans prefer other methods. The same Ipsos poll showed that 60 percent could envisage US cyberattacks against Iranian systems, but only 48 percent of Americans supported air strikes against nuclear facilities.

“A terrible mistake”

Opposition to military escalation is also evident among several Republican politicians.

“This is not our war. But if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution“, Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman from Kentucky, wrote on X earlier this week. He expressed his support for an attempt to gather support in the House of Representatives for a bipartisan resolution to limit the president’s war powers.

Libertarian Senator Rand Paul is also a very vocal opponent of dragging the US into yet another unnecessary war.

– I will not vote to send american kids to Iran. I think its a terrible mistake, every way is not our war. Our country is bankrupting itself over our own obligations to our own people. We should not ever send one soldier to Iran and I hope I am pretty clear on that, he recently declared in an interview.

Tim Burchett, Republican congressman from Tennessee, told CNN on Wednesday that he wanted to see “very little” US involvement in the escalating conflict.

– We don’t need another endless war in the Middle East. Old men make decisions and young men die, and that’s the history of war, he said.

– We need to take a deep breath and slow down this thing and let the Israelis do their thing. We do not need a three-front war in our lifetime.

At the same time, powerful neoconservative actors and the Israel lobby are waging an intense campaign to get the Trump administration to drag the US into the war – despite popular opposition and the president’s earlier promises to be a “peacemaker” and end all wars.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/world/republican-senator-the-bible-commands-us-to-support-israel/

World

Republican Senator: The Bible commands us to support Israel

The escalation in the Middle East

Published 19 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Ted Cruz believes that Christians have a biblical duty to support Israel—otherwise, they risk incurring God's wrath.
3 minute read
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

Influential Republican Senator Ted Cruz justifies his support for Israel’s war against Iran by referring to the Bible and what he learned in Sunday school as a child.

During a heated conversation with former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, Cruz revealed that his stance on the conflict is based more on religious dogma than on political analysis and judgment.

– Growing up in Sunday school I was taught from the Bible, those who bless Israel will be blessed, and those who curse Israel will be cursed, and from my perspective, I want to be on the blessing side of things, Cruz explained.

The senator emphasized that his support for Israel is rooted in the belief that the US is commanded by God to stand behind the country.

– Where does my support for Israel come from? Number one, because biblically we are commanded to support Israel… It doesn’t say the government of Israel, it says the nation of Israel. So that’s in the Bible. As a Christian, I believe that, he emphasized.

But Carlson questioned Cruz’s knowledge of the Bible and asked him to specify where in the Bible the verse can be found.

– I don’t have the scripture off the tip of my… pull out your phone, Cruz replied, to which Carlson quickly pointed out:

– It’s in Genesis. You’re quoting a Bible phrase you don’t have context for, you don’t know where in the Bible it is… that’s your theology?’

Must Christians support Netanyahu?

The conversation quickly became more heated when Carlson continued to demand an answer as to why Christians must support Israel:

– We’re commanded as Christians to support the government of Israel? Define Israel. This is important. Are you kidding? This is a majority Christian country.

Cruz responded irritably:

– Define Israel? Do you not know what Israel is? That would be the country you’ve asked like 49 questions about.

Carlson pressed on:

– So that’s what Genesis—that’s what God is talking about? Is that the current borders, the current leadership, he’s talking about the political entity of Israel? Is the nation God is referring to in Genesis the same country Benjamin Netanyahu is running now?

Is the US at war or not?

Carlson, who had previously criticized Trump for abandoning his “America First” policy in connection with the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, then put Cruz under further pressure. The senator had previously made a surprising statement about the US’s role in the conflict.

– I’ve said we. Israel is leading them, but we’re supporting them, Cruz said when Carlson pointed out that he had previously said that the US was carrying out attacks against Iran.

Carlson reacted strongly to the fact that the US position in the conflict seems to vary depending on which politician you ask:

– You’re breaking news here. The US government last night denied… on behalf of Trump, that we’re acting on Israel’s behalf in any offensive capacity.

Cruz tried to backtrack:

– No, we’re not bombing them. Israel is bombing them.

– You just said we were. This is high stakes. You’re a senator. If you’re saying the United States is at war with Iran right now, people are listening, Carlson pointed out.

No deeper knowledge of Iran

The host also took the opportunity to reveal Cruz’s ignorance about Iran when he asked the Republican politician how many people live in Iran.

– I don’t know the population, Cruz admitted, prompting Carlson to exclaim:

– Not at all? You don’t know the population of the people you’re trying to topple?

Cruz tried to turn the question back on Carlson, who quickly replied, “92 million”.

– How could you not know that? It’s kind of relevant because you’re calling for the overthrow of the government.

Cruz also admitted that he had no deeper knowledge of Iran’s ethnic composition and conceded that he was no expert on the country whose government he wants to overthrow. He also argued that this type of detailed knowledge was irrelevant in this context.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/world/islam-set-to-become-worlds-largest-religion/

World

Islam set to become world’s largest religion

Published 18 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Today, there are approximately two billion Muslims, compared to 2.3 billion Christians.
2 minute read
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

Islam grew about three times faster than Christianity between 2010 and 2020. This is according to new data from the Pew Research Center, which points to higher birth rates and lower rates of conversion as the main explanations.

The global Muslim population increased by almost 21 percent over the past decade. Christianity grew significantly slower, at around 6 percent over the same period. Islam thus grew twice as fast as the world’s population as a whole, which increased by 10 percent.

According to the study, Islam also gained more new followers than all non-Muslim religions combined during the period.

Among the reasons for this development, the higher fertility rate among Muslim women and the lower average age of the Muslim population are particularly mentioned. Between 2015 and 2020, a Muslim woman had an average of 2.9 children, compared with 2.2 children for women who did not belong to Islam.

The net effect of people joining or leaving Islam was small – both groups accounted for about 1 percent in the 2010s.

Distribution based on region. Photo: Pew Research Center

Expanding rapidly

Christianity remains the world’s largest religion, with 2.3 billion followers in 2020. Islam is the second largest, with 2 billion. But while the number of Christians increased, the religion’s share of the world’s population declined by almost 2 percent during the period.

According to the study, the growth of Christianity has been slowed by a large number of people leaving the religion to become non-religious. For every 100 adults who grew up as Christians, the religion lost an average of 11.6 people.

– Islam is set to grow to become the world’s largest religion in years ahead, unless trend lines shift, said Conrad Hackett, senior researcher at the Pew Research Center and one of the report’s authors, according to The Washington Post.

He describes the development as “striking” and notes that Muslims and Christians are now much closer in number because Islam is expanding faster than any other major religion.

The survey is based on thousands of census data and surveys in 201 countries. It covers seven groups: Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, other religions, and people with no specific religious affiliation.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

https://nordictimes.com/world/iran-used-undetectable-missile-in-attack-on-israeli-intelligence-facility/

World

Iran used “undetectable” missile in attack on Israeli intelligence facility

The escalation in the Middle East

Published 17 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Images of what is believed to be the missile strike on Mossad headquarters in the capital Tel Aviv.
1 minute read
Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

Iran’s Defense Ministry says it used a new, untraceable missile in the attack on the headquarters of the infamous Israeli intelligence agency Mossad in Tel Aviv and claims that the attack penetrated several layers of air defenses.

– In today’s attack, we used missiles that could not be tracked or shot down, said Iranian Brigadier General Reza Talaei-Nik, according to the Iranian state news agency IRNA.

He described the operation as a surprise for the Israelis and warned that they would see more.

Earlier today, Iran said its missile strikes hit a military intelligence center and an operations planning center for Mossad located in the capital Tel Aviv. Images show a column of smoke at what is believed to be the site.

Talaei-Nik added that Israel is not prepared for a prolonged conflict.

– The Zionist regime cannot withstand a long war, he said, adding that Iran’s military has been equipped with advanced systems, some of which “have not even been put into use yet.”

At the same time, the Israeli military has introduced new strict censorship guidelines that severely restrict local media from reporting on missile and drone attacks on Israeli territory, which is believed to be a way of concealing Iran’s actual capacity to strike back and give the appearance of military superiority.

Editorial Staff
editorial@nordictimes.com

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