By Hakim

Reagan's presidency was the triumph of extreme right-wing demagogy.

Hakim

May 31, 2026

00:00 Introduction 01:06 How did he make your life worse? 02:17 Privatization 04:35 Ideology of Neoliberalism 05:55 Wage Stagnation and Student Debt 11:10 Racism, Crime and "Welfare" 13:13 AIDS Discrimination 13:20 Institutional Corruption 16:30 Death Squads, Civil Wars and Apartheid 22:08 Conclusion and Book Recommendations

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This video critically examines the legacy of Ronald Reagan, focusing on the detrimental social, economic, and political effects of the policies introduced during his presidency from 1981 to 1989. Reagan’s administration marked a decisive shift toward neoliberalism—a market-centric ideology grounded in deregulation, privatization, tax cuts for the wealthy, and reductions in social spending—which reshaped the American government and society with lasting consequences.

The video argues that Reagan’s approach deliberately engineered economic hardship for working-class Americans, exemplified by recessions, soaring unemployment, and massive deficits created through the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981. This act slashed government revenue by $264 billion, justifying cuts to social programs and pushing public services toward privatization. Privatization, championed by ideologues like Emanuel Savos and organizations such as the Reason Foundation and ALEC, transferred previously public goods—water, education, social security, postal services—to corporate control, leading in many cases to higher costs and deteriorated service quality. This transformed citizens from democratic partners into mere taxpayers dependent on "handouts," undermining collective civic responsibility.

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Reagan participated in many campaigns to demonize state-funded universal healthcare.

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The video further highlights the engineered decoupling of worker compensation from productivity growth—where wages stagnated while productivity rose—driven by policy decisions favoring capital over labor, including union busting (exemplified by Reagan’s 1981 firing of striking air traffic controllers), increased use of non-compete clauses, and precarious employment arrangements. This led to a significant decline in labor share of income and a class-wide pay cut of nearly 10% from 2000 to 2016.

The resultant wage stagnation forced many Americans to rely on credit to maintain a basic standard of living. This gave rise to a debt-dependent economy, fueled by innovations like mortgage-backed securities and the rise of student debt. Reagan’s defunding of public higher education transformed college from a near-right into a privatized commodity heavily reliant on high-interest loans, saddling generations of students with debilitating debt virtually impossible to discharge.

Racially charged rhetoric and policies under Reagan exacerbated social divisions and systemic racism. The welfare queen myth demonized minority welfare recipients while masking the true economic issues. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 imposed harsher penalties on crack cocaine offenses, disproportionately impacting Black communities. Reagan’s administration also ignored the AIDS crisis initially due to the affected populations’ marginalized status.

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US-supported Jihadists visting Reagan at the White House. The idea of giving the Soviet Union its own "Vietnam" was incubated by National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzeziński, and first implemented by Jimmy Carter.

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Corruption and regulatory capture flourished under Reagan, with agencies like the EPA deliberately weakened, enabling polluters and corporations to operate with minimal oversight. Federal funds were redirected toward insiders and political allies, illustrating a pattern of crony capitalism.

Internationally, Reagan’s foreign policy supported repressive regimes and undermined liberation movements under the guise of anti-communism. The U.S. backed death squads in Guatemala, funded the Nicaraguan Contras (despite international legal condemnations), and covertly collaborated with apartheid South Africa, placing economic and geopolitical interests above human rights.

Through these wide-ranging policies and actions, Reagan accelerated the neoliberal agenda—enriching the wealthy, shrinking public welfare, privatizing communal resources, suppressing labor power, and fostering a debt-dependent economy. The video concludes that these outcomes are not accidental but the logical consequence of capitalism’s inherent dynamics—a system forever seeking endless growth at the expense of public good—while asserting that a better, more equitable world remains possible.

Highlights

• [00:29] ⚖️ Reagan's policies engineered a recession with unemployment over 10%, benefiting the wealthiest.
• [01:30] 🏛️ The President’s Commission on Privatization aimed to sell off essential public goods like water, air traffic control, and social security.
• [06:30] 💼 After Reagan, worker productivity grew by 60%, but wages only increased by 14%, widening income inequality dramatically.
• [09:03] 🎓 Reagan shifted higher education funding from public support to high-interest loans, creating the modern student debt crisis.
• [11:28] 🚔 The welfare queen myth and policies like the Anti-Drug Abuse Act fueled racialized stereotypes and harsher penalties disproportionately targeting minorities.
• [14:52] 🌍 Regulatory capture under Reagan gutted EPA enforcement, slashing budgets and inspections, worsening environmental protections.
• [16:50] ⚔️ Reagan supported deadly dictatorships, death squads, and apartheid-era South Africa while discrediting legitimate liberation movements like the ANC.

Key Insights

• [00:29] ⚖️ Engineered Recession as a Wealth Transfer Mechanism: Reagan’s economic strategy intentionally induced a recession with unemployment rates exceeding 10%, reminiscent of the Great Depression’s worst levels. This recession disproportionately harmed working and middle-class Americans, while wealth and income were concentrated among the richest, creating the foundation of neoliberalism’s wealth-first ideology. The forced economic contraction justified cuts and deregulation, presenting economic pain as a necessary sacrifice for “free market” recovery.
• [01:30] 🏛️ Privatization as a Societal and Ideological Shift: By rebranding the selloff of public goods as “free enterprise,” Reagan dismantled the conceptual framework of public services as collective societal investments. This shifted citizens’ identities from empowered democratic participants to individual taxpayers, promoting privatization not as a choice but an inevitable solution to engineered public sector failures. This redefinition weakened social solidarity and paved the way for corporate dominance of essential services with detrimental outcomes for quality and affordability.
• [06:30] 💼 Divergence of Productivity and Wages Signals Class War Victory: The sharp decoupling between productivity growth and stagnant wages post-Reagan signals the erosion of labor’s bargaining power. Policy choices such as union busting, weakening overtime protections, imposing non-competes, and proliferating contract work effectively suppressed wages. This nearly 10% drop in labor’s share of income is a structural transfer of wealth to capital owners rather than market-driven inevitability, illustrating how political decisions can forcibly reshape economic distributions.
• [09:03] 🎓 Transformation of Higher Education Financing into Debt Trap: Reagan’s defunding of public universities and reduction of federal grants forced states to raise tuition and shift aid toward high-interest federal loans. This marked the commodification of higher education and the creation of a massive student debt bubble, which now entraps two-thirds of students and disproportionately delays economic and social milestones, such as home ownership. Student debt, unlike secured loans, is anchored solely on the borrower’s future labor and identity, making it uniquely burdensome and nearly impossible to discharge, with broad intergenerational economic ramifications.
• [11:28] 🚔 Racialized Narratives Used to Undermine Welfare and Criminalize Communities: Reagan popularized the “welfare queen” myth, exploiting racial stereotypes to blame marginalized groups for structural poverty. This myth obscured the reality that welfare recipients, mostly white, were not living in luxury and instead barely survived. Meanwhile, harsh policies like the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 disproportionately targeted Black communities, creating mass incarceration as a racially coded tool of social control while the cocaine epidemic in wealthier white neighborhoods faced lighter repercussions.
• [14:52] 🌍 Regulatory Capture as Institutionalized Corruption: Reagan’s appointments deliberately weakened regulatory agencies, notably the EPA, slashing budgets, inspections, and enforcement. This form of regulatory capture meant agencies designed to protect public health instead advanced corporate interests, undermining environmental protections and public safety. This reversal of regulatory purpose exemplifies the fusion of government and private sector interests characteristic of neoliberal governance.
• [16:50] ⚔️ Foreign Policy Prioritized Cold War Interests Over Human Rights: Reagan’s administration supported brutal regimes, death squads, and apartheid South Africa, endorsing systematic abuses and genocide to suppress socialist and liberation movements. The labeling of figures like Nelson Mandela as terrorists reflected a geopolitical priority to maintain capitalist-aligned regimes and resources rather than advancing justice or democracy. The U.S.’s blatant disregard for international law in Nicaragua underscores the administration’s commitment to Cold War realpolitik over lawful norms and human rights, prolonging violence and oppression globally.
  

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Special Feature

Former Socialism's Faults
By Hakim

First published Jul 3, 2023

By Garland Nixon

Garland Nixon
Streamed live on Jun 2, 2026

Summary

The video presents a comprehensive dialogue between Garland Nixon and Joti Brar discussing her recent experience attending the third Anti-Fascist Forum held in Moscow, organized primarily by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. The conversation centers on the nature of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the role of imperialism, terrorism, and fascism in perpetuating global conflicts, and the ideological battle to control narratives surrounding these events.

Joti Brar contextualizes the war in Ukraine as a proxy war between NATO and Russia, highlighting how the West’s imperialist powers manipulate the conflict, using terrorism and fascism as tools to destabilize and weaken Russia. She clarifies that genuine opposition to imperialism is scant among Western leftist groups, many of whom uncritically adopt NATO’s propaganda. This failure necessitated the creation of the World Anti-Imperialist Platform, which has gained significant traction primarily among anti-imperialist forces from the Global South.

The forum's main theme focused on anti-fascism and anti-terrorism, with special attention to Ukraine’s use of banderite fascism—resurgent ultranationalism rooted in World War II-era Nazi sympathies—as a weapon by imperialist powers. Bra asserts that Ukrainians and Russians are culturally intertwined, and the manufactured hatred is a tactic to fracture socialist resistance and turn Ukraine into a Western foothold against Russia. The discussion addresses the slow war of attrition that Russia pursues, arguing this approach is strategically sound because it gradually demilitarizes Western support and exhausts imperialist resources without unnecessary sacrifice.

Joti and Garland also delve into the strategic use of terrorism, including Ukraine’s alleged attacks on civilian targets like children, used to provoke Russia into overreaction and to sway Western populations toward more aggressive involvement. The conversation discusses the weaponization of the term "terrorism" and the way imperialist powers manufacture proxy terrorist groups worldwide to justify military invasions.

Historical and ideological analyses extend to the post-Soviet space and the global struggle for socialist revival versus capitalist-imperialist resurgence. The ideological division in Russia’s Communist Party, the influence of Western culture through media, and ongoing efforts to subvert socialism via market ideology are explored. The conversation concludes by highlighting the emerging “axis of resistance” to imperialism, including Russia, Iran, China, and others, emphasizing that this global anti-imperialist movement is organically growing as a reaction to aggression.

Garland and Joti end with calls to support Marxist education and grassroots organization, emphasizing the need to counter imperialist narratives and to train committed activists capable of advancing socialist ideals.

Highlights

• [02:04] 🛡️ Overview of the third Anti-Fascist Forum held in Moscow, backed by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
• [08:12] ☠️ Resurgence of banderite fascism in Ukraine as a tool of Western imperialism, rooted in WWII Nazi ideologies.
• [12:19] ⚔️ Discussion of terrorism as a proxy tool to perpetuate the conflict and provoke disproportionate Russian responses.
• [16:56] ⏳ Slow war of attrition favored by Russia to demilitarize NATO’s foothold and exhaust imperial resources.
• [27:11] 🌍 Formation and growth of a global anti-imperialist axis in response to Western aggression.
• [33:51] 🎯 Misuse and weaponization of the term "terrorism" by imperialist powers to justify intervention and suppress opposition.
• [53:38] 🎥 Imperialist cultural infiltration seen in media transformation, promoting Western consumerist illusions before 1991.

Key Insights

• [02:37] 🧩 The Anti-Fascist Forum in Moscow is a politically significant event linking communist and anti-imperialist forces globally, showing evolving state ties allowing more open government support. Its growing scale reflects heightened international coordination against perceived imperialist encirclement. This signals that Russia is rebuilding leftist internationalist solidarity as a political and ideological front in the geopolitical struggle.
• [08:12] 🕯️ The revival of banderite fascism represents a profound ideological manipulation: using historic Nazi-aligned Ukrainian ultranationalism to serve modern imperialist geopolitical goals. It exploits ethnic tensions fabricated or exaggerated to fragment working-class unity across Eastern Europe, a deliberate strategy to prevent any resurgence of socialist or pan-Slavic solidarity against capitalist conquest.
• [12:19] 🎭 Terrorism is deployed as a covert extension of war by proxy forces controlled or influenced by Western intelligence. The goal is multifold: to demoralize populations, provoke escalations, and shape global opinion to justify further military intervention. This strategy complicates the conventional military front by adding psychological warfare and manipulating civilian suffering to achieve political ends.
• [16:56] 🐢 Russia’s methodical, sustained attrition campaign strategically leverages industrial and military capacity advantages, while exploiting the West’s logistical exhaustion. This counters narratives of quick victory being necessary and reframes the conflict as a war of endurance and resource depletion. It highlights that in asymmetric conflicts, patience and ability to “take a punch” can outweigh initial tactical superiority.
• [27:11] 🌐 The emergence of a global axis of resistance—including Russia, Iran, China, and aligned progressive forces—reflects an organic communist and anti-imperialist counterweight to Western hegemony. This bloc is both reactive and proactive, forming a new multipolar resistance network that seeks to limit imperialist incursions worldwide, making imperialism’s fragmented and overstretched position more vulnerable.
• [33:51] ⚠️ The strategic weaponization of terminology like “terrorism” exposes how imperialist narratives distort global perceptions to discredit legitimate anti-colonial and socialist resistance. Labeling resistance forces as terrorists enables the imposition of draconian laws and justifies extraordinary military actions under the guise of security and counterterrorism, severely obstructing genuine political solutions.
• [53:38] 🎬 Cultural imperialism precedes and facilitates political domination. The infiltration of Western consumerist values through media transformed the Soviet cultural space long before 1991, eroding socialist ideals and preparing populations psychologically for neoliberal capitalism. Such soft power measures prove that ideological warfare is critical and foundational for military and economic control.

The discussion overall positions the current global conflict within a century-long framework of imperialist struggles, emphasizing a Marxist analysis of imperialism as systemic capitalism’s geopolitical phase. It stresses the importance of ideological clarity, patient grassroots work, and global solidarity among socialist and anti-imperialist forces to counter the multifaceted oppression and conflicts fueled by imperial powers in decline.

By Mark Sleboda

THE WIT & WISDOM OF MARK SLEBODA - NATO TRANSITIONS TO A LONG TERM DIRTY WAR AGAINST RUSSIA

Garland Nixon
Streamed live on Jun 4, 2026

Summary

This detailed discussion with Mark Sleboda centers on the evolving nature and strategy of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, focusing heavily on the concept of a "dirty war" — a form of asymmetrical, unconventional warfare largely consisting of terrorism, sabotage, and covert operations intended to destabilize Russian society politically and economically. Sleboda explains that while the Ukrainian regime (referred to as the KV regime) cannot win via conventional battlefield engagements due to Russia's persistent advances, it increasingly resorts to asymmetric tactics to inflict damage, cause civilian casualties, and erode Russian public support for the “special military operation.” This shift includes drone and missile strikes against civilian targets, critical infrastructure, and symbolic locations like Moscow's business district and St. Petersburg.

The conversation further covers Ukraine’s political and military leadership changes, particularly the potential replacement of the military commander Sirki with Kyrylo Budanov, a CIA-backed figure specializing in intelligence and covert warfare, signaling a tougher embrace of insurgency and asymmetric tactics. Russian forces, meanwhile, continue their systematic offensives in the Donbas and Zaporozhye regions, gradually dismantling the last defensive lines and gaining ground.

Sleboda highlights Russia’s significant advantage in drone production (reportedly 15,000 drones daily), missile capability, and the degrading air defense capacity of Ukraine and its Western backers, especially the US, which struggles with interceptor missile shortages. The discussion touches on the modern transformation of air warfare—drones and standoff munitions replacing traditional bombers—and the new reality of commercial trucks being used to covertly launch drone attacks, escalating the complexity and moral ambiguity of the conflict.

Economic warfare is also central: Ukraine and Europe face looming shortages and skyrocketing costs in diesel and hydrocarbons crucial for military and industrial operations, while Russia’s oil and gas sector remains robust, even benefiting from increased global prices despite Western sanctions. These dynamics underscore the asymmetry of resources and production capacity between the two sides. The speakers note that while Ukraine’s attacks on Russian infrastructure create dramatic visuals and psychological impacts, they fail to translate into meaningful strategic setbacks for Russia.

Finally, the discussion touches on Russia’s calculated strategy to keep the conflict contained to avoid direct NATO involvement, highlighting a battle of “salami slicing” territorial gains and escalation control. Sleboda also mentions the psychological and information dimensions of the war, including Western media complicity in framing Russia as the sole aggressor and enabling the “dirty war” narrative. The talk closes by guiding listeners to Mark Sleboda’s Boosty platform for further engagement and content.

Highlights

• [01:04] 🚨 Early warning: The 'dirty war' against Russia was foretold, aiming to exhaust Ukrainian Slavs and drag out the conflict.
• [04:12] 🎯 Asymmetric tactics: Ukraine pivots to terrorism and unconventional warfare to undermine Russian political will.
• [08:08] 🏢 Civilian targets attacked: Drone strikes hit civilian buses, dormitories, and residential buildings in Russia, drawing condemnation for targeting non-combatants.
• [11:26] ⚔️ Leadership shakeup: Potential replacement of Ukrainian military commander Sirki with CIA-backed Budanov signals deeper commitment to covert and dirty warfare.
• [22:47] 🤖 Massive drone production: Russia reportedly manufactures 15,000 drones daily, underpinning a sustained drone-missile campaign against Ukraine.
• [30:00] 🚚 Commercial trucks weaponized: Ukraine launches drones from disguised commercial vehicles, complicating Russian defensive targeting and raising war crime concerns.
• [36:10] 🛢️ Economic asymmetry: Russian energy sector remains resilient amid attacks, while Europe and Ukraine face crippling hydrocarbon shortages impacting military production.

Key Insights

• [02:10] ⚔️ Asymmetric warfare as a strategic pivot: Mark Sleboda explains that since the Ukrainian regime cannot decisively win conventional battles, the focus has shifted to asymmetric tactics—terrorism, sabotage, and guerrilla methods—aimed at spreading political and economic turmoil in Russia. This shift attempts to exploit weaknesses outside the battlefield, targeting civilians and infrastructure to foment dissent against the government. The use of the term “dirty war” reflects the morally ambiguous and brutal tactics that go beyond accepted combat norms. The insight reveals how modern conflicts involve hybrid warfare blending conventional and irregular strategies.

• [10:48] 🕵️‍♂️ Budanov’s rise signals a strategic shift: The anticipated appointment of Kyrylo Budanov, a US-backed intelligence and covert operations specialist, to lead Ukraine's military highlights the move toward prioritizing sabotage and irregular warfare over conventional military leadership. Budanov’s background in special forces and asymmetric operations emphasizes Ukraine’s evolving warfighting doctrine focused on protracted and unconventional conflict rather than large-scale battlefield victories. This also illustrates Western intelligence agencies’ direct influence on Ukraine’s military strategy.

• [22:47] 🤖 Industrial drone warfare dominance: Russia’s production of approximately 15,000 drones daily underlines the importance of unmanned aerial systems in modern warfare. These range from reconnaissance to long-range strike capabilities, enabling Russia to sustain a highly effective cost-efficient campaign against Ukraine’s military, logistics, and critical infrastructure with minimal risk to personnel. This scale of drone manufacturing also provides strategic flexibility and the ability to engage in relentless swarm tactics and saturation attacks.

• [26:50] ✈️ The evolving bomber paradigm: The discussion on the transformation of bombers from traditional iron bomb carriers to platforms launching stand-off missiles and drones speaks to broader military technological shifts. Modern bombers can conduct strikes without entering enemy airspace, minimizing risk. This reflects the increasing primacy of precision long-range weapons and autonomous systems over conventional air power, changing the calculus of deterrence and combat engagement zones.

• [30:22] 🚛 Civilian assets weaponized: new ethical and tactical challenges: Ukraine’s tactic of launching drone strikes from commercial trucks blurs the lines between civilian and military targets, forcing Russia to consider striking civilian logistics vehicles to counter attacks. This approach constitutes a war crime under international law because it hides military activity among civilians, endangering non-combatants and escalating the conflict’s brutality. It also marks a dangerous escalation in hybrid warfare, with global implications for trade and logistics security.

• [36:10] 🛢️ Resilience of Russian energy sector vs. Europe’s vulnerability: Despite repeated Ukrainian attacks, Russia’s oil and gas infrastructure sustains minimal strategic damage owing to large spare capacity, repair capability, and the ability to capitalize on high global energy prices. Conversely, Europe faces an imminent diesel and hydrocarbon crisis, with supply shortages threatening military-industrial output and civilian energy stability. This economic imbalance will increasingly constrain Ukraine and European warfighting capacity and flexibility as energy constitutes a vital war resource.

• [45:00] 🔥 Controlled escalation to avoid NATO intervention: Russia’s strategic calculus aims to keep the conflict limited, using a “salami slicing” approach to gradually gain territory without provoking NATO direct involvement. This risk management approach reflects Moscow’s confidence in a prolonged war of attrition and its desire to avoid escalation to a wider NATO-Russia war. It demonstrates the complex geopolitical risk management underpinning ongoing operations, with both sides aware of red lines that must not be crossed.

Additional Observations

• The discussion underscores a media narrative critique, pointing to Western outlets that implicitly endorse or ignore the “dirty war” methods while demonizing Russia, reflecting the information warfare dimension of the conflict.
• The conflict demonstrates how modern warfare increasingly involves hybrid tactics, drone swarms, economic warfare, and covert operations beyond traditional combat, altering the nature of military engagement and civilian impact.
• Energy and industrial production capacities emerge as crucial long-term determinants of conflict endurance and capability sustainability.
• The interview suggests that despite dramatic and brutal attacks, Russia maintains a strong strategic position, with ongoing territorial gains and resilience to economic disruptions.

This comprehensive breakdown sheds light on the multifaceted evolving nature of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, highlighting strategic pivots, technological innovation in warfare, economic dimensions, and geopolitical risk management at play.

By Oliver Boyd-Barrett

Midday today (June 4th, California time) Military Summary Channel reported a growing fuel crisis in Crimea, presumably in the wake of successful drone attacks that have damaged or disabled many oil refineries along Russia’s Black Sea coast and Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil trucks, and that will interrupt the flow of fuel to support the Russian advances in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, even though Russian forces are making considerable advances in western Zaporizhzhia (moving on Orekhiv and Tavriiske).

At root of Russia ‘s new fuel crisis is the emergence of new classes of Ukrainian drones such as Hornets that are driven by AI and do not need operators whereas Russia needs hundreds of operators to bring down the Ukrainian drones. Russia is mobilizing its Rubicon forces to concentrate on attacking Ukrainian drone launchers and operators. But what Russia mainly needs and will likely soon develop is an AI system that will discover and destroy Ukrainian drones. Until this happens Russia is disadvantaged by an overall shortage of drone and interceptor operators and can only focus these on the Crimea-Zaporizhzhia areas by diverting others from, say, the northern border of Ukraine, in turn leaving these areas under-protected. Attempts to build up operator units on ships in the Azov sea have been stymied by recent Ukrainian concentration of effort in attacking Russia’s Azov fleet.

Because so many airfields in Ukraine have been destroyed by Russian missile and drone attacks and because airfields used to be Ukraine’s primary choice for location of drone launchers, Ukraine has transitioned to greater use of mobile drone launchers which, while they may make the business of coordinated drone swarm attacks more challenging, do make it more difficult for Russians to identify and take out Ukrainian drones.

Russia, meantime has been depending more on trucks for the transport of fuel. Long queues of Russian fuel trucks—and accompanying kilometer-long lines at civilian gas stations—are the result of a severe, nationwide fuel crisis driven by targeted Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries and logistical supply lines. As already discussed, these infrastructure attacks have significantly reduced Russia’s refining capacity. With the Kerch Bridge limited, Russian forces are heavily reliant on fuel trucks traveling the R-280 “Novorossiya” highway and the M14 overland corridor. Ukrainian UAVs and autonomous drones are actively targeting these ground lines of communication (G-LOCs), destroying tankers and supply depots, which causes immense traffic bottlenecks and delivery delays. Massive lines have formed at crossing points, such as tanker trucks waiting to board ferries into Crimea, and these are very vulnerable to Ukrainian attack. Crimea is experiencing a near total supply meltdown. Long lines stretch for kilometers at stations in major hubs like Sevastopol. Fuel shortages and stations running completely dry have spread to mainland regions, including Belgorod, Kursk, and St. Petersburg.

Crimean authorities say the fuel situation in Crimea is deteriorating, and that the free sale of gasoline to civilians (large companies, emergency services, etc. are exempted) has been suspended. Fuel for civilians is being sold only using previously issued coupons. Not only have cash sales been restricted for several days, but no coupons are available for purchase and none are expected to become available in the near future. Gasoline is being sold in limited quantities (20 liters per person), using only old coupons.

Anatol Lieven claims (Lieven) that yesterday’s successful Ukrainian strike on energy facilities near Saint Petersburg have led voices in the Russian establishment to begin to call publicly for an early peace, even at the price of giving up key Russian demands. The Trump administration continues to walk away from the conflict, yielding what Lieven, in my view naively, sees as an opportunity for the European Union to play a key role. If it is to do that, he opines, the EU must bring forward concrete incentives to Putin, perhaps including a limited resumption of energy purchases - something which right now Europe adamantly opposes. He claims, without evidence that I have seen, that Russia is increasingly worried by its dependence on China and frustrated with China’s determination to drive the hardest possible bargains over their energy purchases and investments. On the contrary, I would argue that it is China that may be growing worried about its increasing dependence on Russia for energy. It is perfectly obvious to both parties, however, that the political West clings to an insane hostility to the threat that they think the Global South poses to the West’s era of authoritarian liberalism. Russia and China know very well that united they stand, divided they fall. Lievan acknowledges that for the most part Europe has stupidly set its sights on an unconditional Russian ceasefire, which is simply not going to happen.

The Duran Daily (Duran) notes that Russia opened the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum not simply in sight of Ukrainian attacks on a Russian oil refinery but under the shadow of one of the largest drone assaults in recent months.

“Hundreds of drones reportedly targeted cities, energy facilities, and industrial sites across the country, including locations near St. Petersburg. Ukrainian officials openly highlighted the distances traveled by the drones, portraying the attacks as proof of expanding operational reach. The timing of the strikes, coinciding with the opening of Russia’s flagship economic gathering, was widely interpreted as an attempt to disrupt a major political and economic event. Questions are also emerging about how drones are reaching targets so deep inside Russian territory, with reports from the Baltic region fueling speculation about flight paths that may extend beyond Ukrainian-controlled airspace”

I would say that there is little doubt that the intensity of Ukrainian drones owes a great deal to the fanatical and fatal involvement of Finland and the Baltic states who permit the launch of Ukrainian (and, increasingly NATO-produced drones) from and over their territories towards targets deep in Russia, gravely escalating the chances of outright nuclear war, for which Russia’s new SARMAT is well disposed. This is precisel;y the kind of behavior that is fuelling support for a Russian resort to a “demonstration” nuke to confirm its seriousness and shut down the warmongering Kallas classes.

In eastern Zaporizhzhia, Russia now controls Hulapelske and Verkhaya Tersa, making further advances in central and southern Vozdvyzhivka and establishing new positions on the northern outskirts of Bilohiya to the south. It is advancing on the second line of Ukrainian defense that runs from Barvinivka in the north to Chervonc in the south, improving its positions west of Huliapole ready to strike on Orekhiv.

West of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, Russia looks set to continue its movement towards Bilytske via Serhivivka to Novopidhorske and Muravka. Russia’s control of Konstantynivka is expanding, and its bombardments of Slavyansk intensifying, while north of Kupyansk, now fully recovered from Ukraine, Russia eats into more of the northeast of Kharkiv east of the Oskil river, and is likely soon to find itself only 30 kilometers from the Siversk-Donetsk canal south of Vovchansk which Russia also holds.

Last night’s (June 3-4) Ukrainian drones attacked targets in Belgorod, Bryansk, Volgorod, Voranyk, Kursk, Novgorod, Oryol, Roskov, Ryazen, Tambov, Crimea, and shipping targets in the Azov and Black Sea. Yesterday, Ukraine attacked shipping and energy targets in Saint Petersburg (including a ship docked on the island of Kronstadt, though this is likely repairable) where Russia is hosting an international economic forum well outside the center of the city. In addition to impacting the Saint Petersburg oil refinery, recent Ukrainian drones have also inflicted significant damage on the Saratov oil refinery in the Saratov Oblast in the southeasat of European Russia, in the northern part of the Lower Volga region, and on the Illysk oil refinery. The Ilsky Oil Refinery is located in the Seversky district of the Krasnodar Krai in southwestern Russia.

Russia says that it launched some 294 drones last night on energy infrastructure (e.g. an oil storage facility in Perelaslavska, gas stations, warehouses and probably also mobile Ukrainian drone launch trucks). Targets did not include Kiev given the visit there of NATO chief, Mark Rutte - a clear indication of continuing restraint by Russia when it comes to senior NATO personnel. Rutte stated during his visit that the US was continuing to do what it can for the Kiev regime.

Ukraine is soon expected to replace its military commander, Syrsky, with Zelenskiy’s current head of the presidential office, Kiril Budanov, former head of military intelligence. Zelenskiy and Budanov have made recent statements that they expect an end to the conflict by November, and three of Ukraine’ European sponsors - the UK, Germany and France - are reported to be planning for negotiations to this end, busily if fruitlessly looking for likely candidates who can head such negotiations. It is difficult to reconcile such reports with Zelenskiy’s obduracy and Russian resistance to conciliatory moves. What perhaps these reports signify is continuing Ukrainian and European investment in the idea of freezing the conflict along current lines of combat, especially if they are successful in persuading or tricking the US into full re-engagement even as the Iran crisis and Washington’s obsession with China continues to absorb most US energy.

The U.S. House of Representatives has forced a floor vote on a new Ukraine assistance package in an effort led by Democrats and a handful of Republicans who bypassed House Speaker Mike Johnson. The House voted 218-204 to dislodge the Ukraine Support Act from the Rules Committee. Defying Republican leadership, a bipartisan coalition used a rare “discharge petition” (garnering 218 signatures) to force the vote, directly rebuking the White House.

The legislation aims to authorize $8 billion in loans to Ukraine, heavily target Russia with sweeping new sanctions, and establish a reconstruction trust fund. These measures are puny, relative to the size of previous Biden and Trump administration-directed largesse to Ukraine. The administration has also finalized a separate $400 million military assistance package pulled from existing authorization, intended to procure ammunition directly from U.S. defense contractors. The Senate has also been reviewing a broader bill aimed at penalizing countries that purchase Russian oil, gas, and uranium.

The United States has appropriated approximately $195 billion for the Ukraine response since the 2022 invasion, though direct U.S. government assistance has sharply decreased. A significant portion of the $195 billion remains in the pipeline but roughly a quarter of that money is being used to replenish Department of Defense (DoD) weapons stockpiles. Ongoing U.S. financial support is increasingly constrained due to policy shifts, though smaller supplemental packages, such as the above-mentioned delayed $400 million military allocation, are currently moving through the interagency process. Since Trump has directed Europe to furnish much of the money for weapons expenditure in Ukraine, European nations and institutions have outpaced total U.S. commitments, having now provided more than $200 billion in military, financial, and humanitarian expenditure.

By Julian Macfarlane

 

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Iposted this video by Brian Berletic yesterday but did not comment, even though it is very relevant to the chaos we see worldwide, as a result of America’s last gasp attempts at empire.

It’s quite long and takes off from an article that Brian published on NEO (New Eastern Outlook) -- Afghanistan: America’s Other Ongoing Proxy War --where among other things he writes:

If individual people are ultimately the most basic building block of human civilization and the direction it takes, then control over the information they see and believe is the most basic and fundamental means of controlling the direction of human civilization.

This is a point I have been trying to articulate in my articles on LLMs, and especially manipulation of the GoogleVerse and social media to influence public beliefs— in the final analysis subliminal coercion in which intelligent and informed people are misled, misinformed, and misdirected to irrelevancies. I have been among those people, although not necessarily “intelligent” or “informed”.

When you hear lefty icons such as Robert Scheer talking about Russia’s “full scale invasion” of Ukraine when it was neither “full scale” nor any kind of “invasion," you can guess how pervasive this subversion of the mind is !

Pervasive?

Subversive?

Like LLMs?

In this era, we are all artificially informed. Everything depends on our data sets and the mental algorithms we use for them.

For example…where does all this recent talk about Iran getting a nuclear weapon come from?

Of course, from constant repetition in the MSM and Alt Media of American claims that Iran is just weeks, if not days,if not hours, if not minutes away from going nuclear—over, and over, and over again — a kind of hypnosis.

It is not logical . It is emotional.

Still to the extent that such propaganda works often below the level of conscious thought, it is never perfect. 

So it is that Scott Ritter who I have often criticized, writing about the Russian political scientist Karaganov, “gets it" !.

The true lesson is that nuclear wars cannot be won, should never be fought, and as such nuclear weapons should be done away altogether.

With nuclear weapons everybody loses! Thank you, Scott!

Despite this moment of lucidity, we still have a war going on in the Middle East about non-existent nuclear weapons. Why? And the issue is publicized.

Because it distracts from the real issues.

Magic

It’s the magician’s trick. Distraction. Misdirection. Hypnosis. Suggestion. You know it isn’t real. But…

Israel and AIPAC are also such “distractions”.

As Berletic says it all comes down to control over “the information they see and believe”. However, the word “information” somehow connotes “facts”, “realities’. It might be more correct to say “control over what you see and believe and end up taking as real”.

When you go to a movie, for the time you sit there, you see and believe things that look real but are not. The movie is not “information”, is entertainment - distraction.

Brian points out what we  “see and believe” puts the blame on Israel for America’s sins — when it is the other way around. Israel is just one of many American proxies, like ISIS, or HST in Syria, or the UkiNazis, or any number of terrorists groups and corrupt governments. Israel did not start the war in Libya against Gaddafi. Nor the years of war in Afghanistan. Nor the war against the Serbs. Nor any of the wars in Africa. Nor Ukraine. It has little to do with the Asia Pacific region.

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The US has been playing this game of absolute global dominance for many years.

That does not absolve the ZioNazis or UkiNazis of their monstrous crimes: it merely speaks to the greater evil represented by the US of A.

Berletic asks us to look at the “big picture”.

And what is that?

The US is a nihilistic civilization that from its inception was predicated on exploitation, thievery, and war, one form of slavery or another, brainwashing its population. Now it is failing and desperate.

Who to blame?

Cui Bono.

We could start with the American military companies and the billionaire class.

Let’s take the example of Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. Google is in no way the neutral player it pretends to be.

 

There is the Hornet Drone constructed by his own stealth military AI company ⁠Swift Beat (formerly known as White Stork and Project Eagle) with a contract to supply thousands to Kiev.

Istari is a defense startup that uses machine learning and software to build “digital twins” testing war machines in a simulated “metaverse” environment to dramatically accelerate military engineering.

D3 (Dare to Defend Democracy) finances and scales early-stage defense technology for UAVs, electronic warfare, counter-drone systems, and battlefield robotics.

SandboxAQ offers quantum cryptography and GPS-free quantum navigation—for modern electronic warfare and cyber war.

Rebellion Defense offers AI “battle-ware to handle defense data, identify incoming threats, and automate mission planning.

Relativity Space uses 3D-printing and automation for aerospace production and has expanded into military rockets.

America’s Frontier Fund (AFF) works with other major tech figures, lobbying the U.S. government and developing microelectronics, synthetic biology, and advanced defense systems.

You and me

But in the end, it is ordinary people trying to live a ‘normal” life in an age when “normal” no longer exists. We must blame ourselves. I include myself in this.

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By Alastair Crooke

Iran Takes Its Chances with War / Alastair Crooke, 4 June 2026

Alastair Crooke: IRAN’S TRIGGER WARNING: ‘Withdraw from Lebanon… Any Violations and We Strike

Dialogue Works
Streamed live June 5, 2026

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Summary

The discussion, taking place on June 5th, 2026, with Alastair Crooke, provides a detailed analysis of the escalating conflict between Israel, Lebanon, and Iran, with a focus on the ideological and strategic shifts behind these hostilities. Israel’s declaration to attack Dahieh, a southern suburb of Beirut, and its call for evacuation has triggered reciprocal threats from Iran to strike northern Israel. This confrontation is rooted in the evolving Israeli security doctrine and Iran's regional strategy, involving proxy groups like Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis.

Alastair explains that Israeli policy has moved away from traditional security approaches, initially focused on defending borders and achieving political solutions through conflict, towards a doctrine of “permanent security”coupled with a messianic vision of expanding “Greater Israel.” This doctrine justifies extreme measures, including civilian targeting, to eradicate perceived threats at their root, effectively denying the Palestinians and Hezbollah any future capacity to challenge Israel. Israel is aggressively pursuing what he calls the “Dahi doctrine” — the destruction of civilian areas to punish and pressure Hezbollah.

Despite some Israeli military opposition, this permanent security doctrine enjoys popular and political weight, compelling Israel to reject ceasefires that would leave Hezbollah armed or politically intact. Efforts to disarm Hezbollah through Lebanese government cooperation have failed, leading Israel to attempt to create a buffer zone in southern Lebanon through brutal military campaign, resulting in significant civilian casualties and destruction.

On the Iranian side, Crooke clarifies the longstanding historical and ideological ties with Hezbollah and other groups in the region. Contrary to some western misconceptions about Iranian proxies, Hezbollah holds considerable autonomy and even advises Iran politically rather than the other way around. Iran’s current strategy is one of escalatory deterrence, marking a new phase of confronting U.S. and Israeli influence, including responding sharply to attacks on Iranian vessels and interests. Despite rumors, Iran has not changed its religious fatwa banning nuclear weapons development and remains cautious about overt nuclear weaponization.

The conversation also highlights the deteriorating geopolitical landscape. Negotiations on nuclear agreements like the JCPOA are effectively stalled, with little prospect of renewed diplomacy. The U.S., under Trump’s unstable leadership, is unable to find a diplomatic “offramp” or peaceful resolution. Instead, both Iran and Israel are entrenched in escalating confrontation, with Trump’s administration constrained by depleted strategic reserves, economic vulnerabilities, and political divisions.

Further complicating matters, Israel is moving to integrate its military operations and technology deeply with the U.S., blurring sovereign military capabilities. Meanwhile, economic pressures from energy shortages and global inflation loom, threatening to undermine Western resolve. Russia is also recalibrating its deterrence policy, inspired in part by Iranian strategy, aiming its retaliatory precision strikes directly at Western decision-makers rather than smaller peripheral targets.

In conclusion, the current moment is marked by intensifying regional conflicts driven by uncompromising doctrines, failed diplomatic efforts, and shifting global power dynamics. The outlook suggests ongoing violence without immediate resolution, barring profound changes triggered by economic shocks or shifts in political will.

Highlights

• [01:06] 🇮🇱 Israel announces plans to attack Dahieh suburb of Beirut, triggering reciprocal Iranian threats.
• [05:26] ⚔️ Israel adopts a permanent security doctrine post-October 7th attack, justifying extreme military actions against civilians.
• [13:06] 🌆 Dahieh, a civilian suburb, targeted as punishment against Hezbollah with severe destruction and casualties.
• [17:59] 🚁 Hezbollah counters Israeli incursions using advanced drones, inflicting significant casualties.
• [24:40] ☢️ Iran appears to maintain its nuclear fatwa against weapons despite escalating conflict rhetoric.
• [45:09] 🤝 Israel pursues deep military integration with the U.S., signaling a fusion of military-industrial capacities.
• [56:41] 🌍 Russia shifts strategy toward targeting Western decision centers, reflecting alignment with Iranian escalatory deterrence.

Key Insights

• [02:41] 🔍 Shift from Conventional to Permanent Security in Israel: Israel’s security doctrine has radically changed from a defensive, political end-oriented military strategy to one focused on eliminating all possible threats at the root. This reflects a deep psychological impact from the October 7th attacks, which Israelis view as a "new Holocaust" threatening their survival. Thus, military action has expanded beyond conflict zones to civilian areas, framing collective punishment as a legitimate tactic.

• [06:15] 🕊️ The Ideological Roots of Permanent Security: This doctrine is historically linked to the concept of “permanent security” derived from post-World War II thought, including the Nazi era’s emphasis on eradicating future enemies altogether. For Israel, this means there can be no innocents in Gaza or southern Lebanon, rationalizing targeting women and children to prevent the rise of future resistance.

• [10:57] ⚖️ Failure of Political Solutions to Hezbollah Arms: Attempts to coerce the Lebanese government—especially factions sympathetic or hostile to Hezbollah—to disarm the group have failed, revealing the limits of Lebanese sovereignty and political fragmentation. Hezbollah’s deep integration in Lebanese politics and society makes disarmament nearly impossible, forcing Israel toward military solutions with severe humanitarian consequences.

• [16:20] 🚁 Hezbollah’s New Tactical Capabilities and Buffer Zones: Hezbollah’s use of advanced drones linked through fiber optic technology to target Israeli military sites marks a significant tactical evolution. This has increased Israeli casualties and undermined Israeli attempts to dominate southern Lebanon. Hezbollah’s creation of a reciprocal “buffer zone” inside northern Israel transforms the nature of the conflict into a more complex asymmetric engagement.

• [24:40] ☢️ Iran’s Nuclear Strategy Grounded in Religious Doctrine: Iran’s nuclear ambitions are circumscribed by a religious fatwa forbidding nuclear weapons, which remains officially intact. Changing this fatwa would require formal juristic deliberation, indicating Iran's cautious approach to nuclear weaponization despite external pressures and Western fears.

• [31:04] 🌐 Wider Proliferation Trends and Deterrence Logic: Globally, counter-proliferation pressures paradoxically tend to push states closer toward weaponization as a deterrence strategy—exemplified by North Korea and debated even within nuclear powers like Russia. Iran’s pursuit of deterrence can thus be understood as aligning with this broader geopolitical dynamic rather than isolated aggression.

• [45:09] 🇺🇸🤝🇮🇱 Deepening Israeli-U.S. Military Integration Challenges Sovereignty: New U.S. legislation pushing to fuse Israeli and American militaries through data sharing, joint R&D, and missile technologies represents an unprecedented merger. This not only increases Israel’s military autonomy but also challenges traditional notions of American sovereignty and may entrench military-industrial interests that shape policy toward perpetual conflict.

• [49:05] 📉 Economic Pressures as an Unpredictable Variable: The unfolding energy shortages, strategic reserve depletion, and global inflation pose a major risk of forcing strategic recalculations. Such economic instability could either pressure the U.S. and its allies to seek diplomatic solutions or provoke rash military escalations, especially under a politically embattled Trump administration.

• [56:41] 🎯 Russian Strategic Shift Toward Direct Western Decision Makers: Russia’s recalibration of its deterrence policy to focus attacks on key Western power centers rather than peripheral targets indicates a hardening stance aligned with Iran’s escalatory deterrence model. This creates a new risk dynamic in Eurasia, signaling intensified global geopolitical tension beyond the Middle East.

• [52:15] 🧠 Trump’s Leadership and the Absence of an Offramp: Trump’s refusal to heed military and Congressional warnings, combined with his fragile mental state, limits any prospects for de-escalation. His narrative blaming opponents as traitors and his obsession with personal success make unpredictable or reckless decisions more likely, worsening the conflict risks.

• [40:10] 🤔 The Illusion of Negotiation and the Entrenchment of Conflict: Both Iran and the U.S. appear entrenched in a zero-sum mindset where battlefield outcomes dictate political reality, sidelining diplomacy. Lack of genuine communication channels and mutual distrust mean that even talks around nuclear or regional ceasefires remain stalled indefinitely, deepening long-term instability.