[IsraelTimes] Measure aims to cut off key sources of revenue for the Iran-backed terror group, which regularly fires missiles and drones at Israel
The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on what it said was a Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... -linked petroleum smuggling and sanctions evasion network across Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... and the United Arab Emirates, its latest action targeting the Iran-backed terror group that fires missiles at Israel.
In a statement, the US Treasury Department said the two individuals and five entities sanctioned on Tuesday were among the most significant importers of petroleum products and money launderers benefiting the Houthis, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars per year.
"The Houthis collaborate with opportunistic businessmen to reap enormous profits from the importation of petroleum products and to enable the group’s access to the international financial system," said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender.
"These networks of shady businesses underpin the Houthis’ terrorist machine, and Treasury will use all tools at its disposal to disrupt these schemes," he said.
The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has repeatedly slapped sanctions on the Houthis over the past year.
Continued on Page 47
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Kamran Gasanov
[REGNUM] Never before has Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan felt as confident as he does today.
At various points during his premiership and presidency, he was threatened by a US- and EU-sponsored “velvet revolution,” a military coup supported by Fethullah Gülen, and risked losing parliamentary and presidential elections to the heirs of Ataturk’s party.
And throughout his twenty-year rule, he fought separatists from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), both in Turkey and in neighboring Iraq and Syria.
The "velvet revolutions" in Gezi Park failed, and Donald Trump stopped funding their breeding ground, USAID (an organization recognized as undesirable in the Russian Federation). Erdogan reined in the military, jailed the Gulenists, and Gulen himself passed away last October. The AKP and Erdogan were able to win the parliamentary and presidential elections by hook or by crook (although they lost the municipal elections).
Of the unresolved issues, two remained: opposition leader and Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and the PKK.
In terms of danger, Imamoglu probably stood much higher. After all, if any means can be used against the PKK, then elections in a still democratic country cannot be cancelled.
But to one degree or another, an antidote was found in both cases.
The Kurdistan Workers' Party has weakened significantly in recent years. Following Turkey's military operations in northern Iraq and Syria against the PKK and YPG, the change of power in Damascus to the pro-Turkish Ahmed al-Sharaa, and the establishment of close relations with Baghdad, the Kurdish militants have weakened significantly.
In October 2023 and 2024, they reminded everyone of their presence by carrying out terrorist attacks at the Interior Ministry building and at the headquarters of the TUSAŞ aerospace company near Ankara. But the party's leader, Abdullah Öcalan, realized the futility of nearly half a century of violent resistance. And in May 2025, he called on his supporters to lay down their arms.
A new stage in this process was the beginning of the real disarmament of the PKK. On July 11, in Iraqi Kurdistan, in the province of Sulaymaniyah, the first group of 30 PKK militants surrendered their weapons. The disarmament procedure, according to the Turkish newspaper Yeni Şafak, will take place “without cameras” and should be completed by September.
According to the agreement between Ankara and the PKK, the leadership of the Kurdish movement (about 250 people) will not have the right to live in the areas of Iraq and Syria bordering Turkey, but they can leave for third countries.
The Turkish President could not help but take advantage of the opportunity to celebrate his latest victory: "Turkey has won, my nation has won. Each of our 86 million citizens - Turks, Kurds and Arabs - has won." This address is not accidental.
Erdogan does not want to give the impression that he has broken the back of Kurdish separatism. He is separating the concepts of "terrorist" and "Kurd" to avoid giving rise to new insurgent movements in the future and to gain support from the 30 million-strong Kurdish diaspora in his fight for the next elections.
This is not the first time that Erdogan has resorted to pan-Turkish (Ottoman) solidarity.
Immediately after Ocalan's decision to disband the PKK, he said that the battles of Manzikert (Malazgirt) against the Byzantines (1071) and Çaldiran (1514) were "a common victory for the Turks, Kurds and Arabs."
In allied Azerbaijan they tactfully kept silent, but were clearly not happy to hear from Erdogan that he was proud of the blow to the Safavid Empire at the hands of the Kurds.
The most curious thing about the process of reconciliation with the Kurds is that the trigger here is the AKP's ally in the coalition, the leader of the nationalist MHP, Devlet Bahçeli. It was he who, even before the start of the dialogue with Öcalan, in October, suggested that he speak in the Turkish parliament and disband his group. And a couple of months ago, he came up with something even more sensational. "The president should have two vice presidents - one Kurd, the other Alevi," he said at a closed meeting with deputies.
The second piece of news that marks Erdogan’s victory in domestic politics came in the same days as the beginning of the PKK’s disarmament. On July 16, Ekrem Imamoglu was sentenced to more than a year and a half in prison for “publicly insulting a public servant.”
Imamoglu did indeed question the integrity of prosecutor Akin Gürlek, but it is clear that this is just a pretext. The verdict is a new stage in the case of the mayor of Istanbul, who was arrested in March and is the president’s main rival for power, whether in the snap elections or in the planned ones in 2028.
The timing of the verdict was very opportune. The protests in Turkey have already died down, the major international players, mainly European ones, have either stopped talking about them or are talking in hushed tones. Erdogan probably expects that in a year and eight months, Imamoglu will be completely forgotten, and he will be able to hold early elections and win them.
If Erdogan fails to get into “best shape,” then he can wait another three years and, if necessary, promote a successor during this time — for example, the young but experienced Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Imamoglu’s release will not be an obstacle — new grounds for new criminal cases can be found at any time.
The process of dismantling the PKK looks more promising and irreversible. But the arrest of Imamoglu does not eliminate the threat from the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP). So the fight against it is still ahead and it is still dangerous, even without a strong leader at the helm.
Nevertheless, in the short term of a year or two, the Turkish president can be calm about his rear and concentrate on foreign policy. He is already doing this, his confidence is growing every day, and there are enough reasons for it.
Trump takes Erdogan seriously, listens to his opinion on Middle East affairs, sometimes risking his friendship with Israel. The latest escalation in Syria has largely been stopped thanks to the coordination of the State Department and Ankara.
The European Union is keeping its offer of Turkey's participation in European defense and the military-industrial complex on the table. In June, Turkish drone manufacturer Baykar and Italy's Leonardo formed a joint venture, LBA Systems, to produce UAVs. Recognizing Europe's growing dependence, Erdogan has demanded that Turkey's European integration be accelerated.
Ankara has its finger on the pulse of the Ukrainian conflict and is already getting involved in the negotiations on Iran. On July 23, a new round of talks between Russia and Ukraine will take place in Istanbul, and in two days the heads of the foreign ministries of the "European three" and Iran will gather there to discuss the Iranian nuclear program.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The United States has decided to withdraw from UNESCO in 2027. This was reported on July 22 by the press service of the State Department.
“Withdrawal from UNESCO will take place on December 31, 2026,” the statement said.
The department clarified that membership in the organization does not meet the national interests of the United States and contradicts the country's foreign policy principles of "America First."
The State Department added that UNESCO's admission of Palestine as a member state raises serious questions and contributes to the spread of anti-Israeli rhetoric within the organization.
As reported by Regnum News Agency, on June 2, Trump proposed suspending most mandatory and all voluntary contributions to UN agencies, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNESCO, in his draft federal budget for the 2026 fiscal year.
In January, the American leader signed an executive order to withdraw the United States from the WHO. He pointed out that the United States pays $500 million in contributions to the organization each year, while China, which has a population four times larger, pays only $39 million. The president called this situation unfair and cited it as a reason for leaving the organization.
#3
^UN is a criminal organization that promotes eradication of civilization and wholesale genocide of Westerners. As to veto - once the pretence that UN matters ends ...
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] American auditors from the House Judiciary Committee have published the results of a preliminary investigation into the financial activities of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID, recognized as an undesirable organization in Russia)
…and in America, too, thanks to President Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE…
during the Joe Biden administration. The published data has caused a real scandal. Most decidedly a scandal. Mr. Tsukanov gives us more names.
As a result of the audit, a number of Israeli non-profit organizations were accused of destabilizing the situation in the Jewish state. And with the money of American taxpayers.
These accusations could well cost the Israeli opposition its seats in the upcoming elections, especially if it turns out that much of their “popular support” was orchestrated.
However, Tel Aviv is currently focused on other threats. But they also come from non-profit organizations.
"UNDERMINING" UNDER THE PREMIERE
The investigation, initiated by the House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs Committees, began in March and was part of Donald Trump's campaign to audit USAID.
A review of 380 financial statements found that six non-profit organizations (NPOs) registered in Israel or indirectly affiliated with it were involved in the accumulation and redistribution of government loans and grants.
The money was then used to finance destabilizing actions in the Jewish state. In addition to USAID, funds were allocated from the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Agriculture,
…not what we actually call them, but a reasonable translation from the Russian style…
the State Department, and the Pentagon and “transited” to smaller NGOs involved in solving “democratic problems” in various parts of Israel.
One of the central links in the shadow scheme, according to the auditors' findings, is PEF Israel Endowment Funds, which served as the main channel for collecting and distributing donations to Israeli NGOs in the United States.
Other heavyweights of non-profit activity were implicated in the scandal: Blue White Future, which promotes the idea of peaceful coexistence between Israel and Palestine, the consulting company Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, the public funds Jewish Communal Fund and Middle East Peace Dialogue Network, as well as the youth movement Movement for Quality Government in Israel, which is considered a “forge of civil activists” working in the interests of Israel.
A certain sector of Israel, though definitely not the whole.
Auditors calculated that about a billion dollars were spent on destabilizing and undermining the Israeli government under various pretexts. Of this, more than 850 million went to funding groups that stirred up protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters, both on the “corruption” line and in the context of the conflict in the Gaza Strip. The rest went to critics of judicial reform.
The report notes that a promising area of USAID funding was to stir up protest sentiments among the ultra-Orthodox ("haredim") after the Israeli Supreme Court's July 2024 ruling on the admissibility of their conscription into military service. However, at the last moment, for unknown reasons, this idea was abandoned.
And yet they’ve been protesting anyway — we’ve just been ignoring it as an internal issue.
A TRUMP CARD FOR THE RIGHT
Although most of the findings in the auditors' report were labeled as "possible" and "highly likely," they were enough to slam the outgoing presidential administration.
For example, the Republican Jewish Coalition, which unites lobbyists of Jewish origin, considered the investigation’s findings “outrageous” and demanded “immediate comments” from former White House officials.
Legitimate.
They called the very fact of financing protests organized in a country that is a strategic ally of the United States (and, moreover, carried out “from the pockets” of American taxpayers) unacceptable and “undermining the long-standing friendship” between Washington and Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu's supporters also considered the accusatory basis sufficient for criticizing the "fifth column" inside the country. True, so far it is mainly along the lines of loyal opinion leaders - the politicians themselves remain silent. But only for the time being.
Hoping not to have to burn bridges with the Democratic Party...
Moreover, the American auditors gave Netanyahu’s cabinet a long-term trump card by catching several NGOs mentioned in the report in “potential financing” of Hamas and other groups and movements hostile to Tel Aviv.
For example, the NGO Bayader Association for Environment and Development, which maintained close contacts with a number of “moderate” Hamas representatives, received a generous contribution from USAID just a week before the start of the anti-Israeli Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
Another socio-political NGO, Tides Network, which is affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, received loans totaling more than $2.6 million in the first year of the Gaza operation.
It is noteworthy that some of the tranches passed through the scandalous “PEF Israel Endowment Funds” and were sometimes supplemented by donations from other sources. The auditors were unable to track what exactly the grants were spent on.
As a result, the Netanyahu cabinet can, if necessary, easily shift the blame for “strengthening the position of Hamas” to the American Democrats, who have provided support to Tel Aviv’s opponents not only within Israel, but also on its “sensitive borders.”
HELP FOR HAMAS
However, for now Tel Aviv has no need to fully play the card of American Democrats interfering in the country's internal affairs. Especially since its own similar scandal is brewing under its nose.
It recently became known that the local non-profit organization “AID48”, associated with the “Joint Arab List” (RAAM), was involved in funding organizations and NGOs that are considered terrorist in Israel.
The driving force behind the indictment is ultra-conservative MK Zvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism Party). According to him, “billions of dollars” flowed through NGO accounts, feeding the coffers of Hamas and other Palestinian forces that control the Gaza Strip.
Also, according to parliamentary prosecutors, part of the funds went through third parties to the Judea and Samaria region under the guise of tranches for the purchase of weapons for Jewish settlers developing the West Bank. And from there, through shadow channels, these weapons got to Gaza.
Eh? We’ll need to hear more about that, because it’s definitely counterintuitive.
Despite the fact that most of the accusations by Sukkot and his colleagues are based on the findings of investigators from their organization, the Choose Life Forum, which represents the interests of families of terrorism victims, and are not supported by a serious evidence base, they receive active support from conservative forces.
Many Knesset members do not like their proximity to the Joint Arab List, which they traditionally tend to see as “hidden lobbyists” for the interests of the Palestinian population.
It was, after all, an invention of the Obama State Department in an effort to increase the effectiveness of the Arab-Israeli political parties.
Raam representatives reject the accusations as “political blackmail,” and call the attacks on AID48 an attempt to “cover up the abuse of force” in Gaza.
Ra’am is the political party of the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Israel, the so-called Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement, headed by MK Mansour Abbas, the first Arab party leader to join a ruling coalition of the Israeli government.
Moreover, with the start of the operation in the enclave, Arab politicians directed NGO funds to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in areas with high intensity of military operations, while official Tel Aviv ignored this problem until the very end and began to deal with it only under pressure from the US and the EU.
Netanyahu and his entourage are not interfering in the conflict, seeing it as a chance to redirect the anger of ultra-conservative forces from the “haredi” issue (which previously put the government on the brink of illegitimacy) to the Arab minority.
The potential loss of the alliance with Raam, which has about five mandates, looks like the lesser of two evils for Netanyahu’s coalition, since a final break with the Orthodox parties would entail the loss of at least fifteen seats, and in the long term, early elections.
The election is scheduled for October 2026 unless the government loses the confidence of the Knesset before then.
Both investigations, in the US and in Israel, are still ongoing.
Each report reveals more funds flowing to the Israeli left in a vain attempt to drive Bibi out of politics. Annoying as it has been, it’s certainly a hefty donation — in the Keynesian fashion — to the Israeli economy, which is most assuredly not what his Democratic followers intended.
The amounts of infusions cited by auditors may change in the near future, and in a positive direction. In addition, new, previously undisclosed figures may appear in the case. That is why the Israeli authorities prefer to wait a little and, if necessary, increase the dividends from scandals.
Netanyahu and his supporters will most likely play this trump card in full closer to the Knesset elections, pressing the point that the “popular support” of the opposition leaders was just a fiction, and his main critics are themselves involved in scandals and intrigues, including shadow financing of Hamas. And this movement serves as the main trigger for Israeli society after 2023.
If such a combination is successful, the far-right government will not only retain control over the country, but will also increase its mandates.
…like Hamas an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood and fellow recipient of Iranian funding and supplies, they were expelled from Egypt in 1981…
terror group claimed Tuesday that it has lost contact with the captors holding Israeli hostage Rom Braslavski, and that his fate is currently unknown.
The Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... -based group said in a statement that the loss of communication occurred after the Israel Defense Forces operated in the area where he was being held. Israel Defense Forces ground troops entered the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah on Monday for the first time, after avoiding it largely because hostages are thought to be held there.
Braslavski, who was taken hostage from the Nova music festival in the Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... -led attack on October 7, 2023, is one of the 50 hostages still held captive in Gaza. At least 20 of the captives are thought to be alive, and around half would be released under a ceasefire deal being negotiated between Israel and Hamas in Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... PIJ has made statements and claims in the past that have not always proven reliable. Israel has accused the group, like Hamas, of conducting psychological warfare. PIJ released a video of Braslavski in April, likely scripted by his captors, in which he said he was experiencing "hell" and displayed signs of illness.
[NAHARNET] Hezbollah has concerns over the intentions of Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri
...perennial Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians... , political sources told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper, reminding of the Speaker's approval in November of the ceasefire agreement ''despite Hezbollah's objection.''
Hezbollah ''fears that Berri might take a similar step regarding the arms monopolization plan and its handover to the state through a decision issued by Cabinet, despite Hezbollah's objection to this step,'' the sources said.
Informed sources meanwhile told the daily that ''Berri's attempts to ease Hezbollah's stance have succeeded in form, but in content Hezbollah has maintained its obstinacy.''
[NAHARNET] Speaker Nabih Berri will propose to U.S. envoy Tom Barrack that Israel fully halt its attacks for 15 days after which Lebanon would begin removing what's left of Hezbollah's arms, TV networks said ahead of the two men's meeting on Tuesday.
"The meeting between Berri and Barrack was very positive and we can say that it dispelled the pessimistic atmosphere that had recently prevailed," sources told LBCI television.
Other sources meanwhile told MTV that Barrack had told officials whom he met with that the Lebanese response was incomplete.
"The Lebanese response was unified and what Barrack heard in Baabda he heard again in Ain el-Tineh," the sources said.
Sources also told MTV that "Hezbollah is still insisting not to hand over its weapons and not to have a timetable."
Speaking to reporters after the Ain el-Tineh talks, Barrack said the meeting with Berri was ''great.''
Asked by a reporter ''why wouldn't the U.S. give any guarantees to Lebanon,'' Barrack said: ''There is no problem with guarantees. We're all working through it. Everything is moving. You should all be hopeful. We're gonna get regional stability. Everything is gonna be okay.''
Barrack had met Monday and Tuesday with President Joseph Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and a host of political, religious and financial figures.
He had said Monday that he returned to Lebanon because U.S. President Donald Trump is interested in reaching ''regional stability'' and because Lebanon is the ''center of that process.''
[NAHARNET] Lebanese Forces A Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb... leader Samir Geagea ....Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005.... on Tuesday accused President Joseph Aoun, Speaker Nabih Knobby Berri
...perennial Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians... and PM Nawaf Salam of ''undermining the constitution and the Lebanese institutions'' by sidelining the government and parliament in their response to U.S. envoy Tom Barrack's paper.
''Nothing in the constitution is called the three presidents. The center of the executive decision in the constitution is in the government and the center of the legislative decision is in parliament,'' Geagea said.
The LF leader also claimed that the response delivered by Aoun, Berri and Salam to Barrack ''came totally identical to what Hezbollah wanted, except for some cosmetic phrases.''
''Illegal weapons in Leb ...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade.... are not a U.S. problem and illegal weapons after the 2024 war are no longer an Israeli problem, but rather a Lebanese problem in the first place,'' Geagea added.
''Disbanding these organizations has become a demand for the majority of the Lebanese people and a clear demand for all of Lebanon's friends in the east and the west, especially for the Gulf countries, so that Lebanon's friends regain their interest in it'' and so that they help in ''removing Israel from Lebanon and halting its military operations,'' the LF leader said.
He added that the Lebanese response ''subjects Lebanon to a lot of threats and further tragedies and woes,'' adding that ''those behind what happened will be held responsible for anything that might happen.''
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the 
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade....
