Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Traoré is remaking his nation, and in the process, making enemies in the West. Since taking power in 2022, the young military leader has expelled French troops, ejected Western corporations, and aligned his country with Russia, Cuba, and Venezuela.
Promoting pan-African unity and national self-reliance while surviving coup attempts, Traoré is positioning himself as a radical anti-imperialist and has drawn fire from Washington and Paris. My article explores the project underway in Ouagadougou and the Western forces trying to stop it.
The Trump administration’s deal to send large numbers of people to prisons in El Salvador has thrust its president, Nayib Bukele, into the international spotlight. Bukele has been praised, especially in conservative media, as a dynamic and popular leader who has saved his country from the grips of gang violence. But beneath this polished image, he has cemented his rule based on assigning himself autocratic powers, jailing and persecuting his political opponents, and overseeing the creation and expansion of the world’s first prison state.
Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Traoré is remaking his nation, and in the process, making enemies in the West. Since taking power in 2022, the young military leader has expelled French troops, ejected Western corporations, and aligned his country with Russia, Cuba, and Venezuela.
Promoting pan-African unity and national self-reliance while surviving coup attempts, Traoré is positioning himself as a radical anti-imperialist and has drawn fire from Washington and Paris. My article explores the project underway in Ouagadougou and the Western forces trying to stop it.
The Trump administration’s deal to send large numbers of people to prisons in El Salvador has thrust its president, Nayib Bukele, into the international spotlight. Bukele has been praised, especially in conservative media, as a dynamic and popular leader who has saved his country from the grips of gang violence. But beneath this polished image, he has cemented his rule based on assigning himself autocratic powers, jailing and persecuting his political opponents, and overseeing the creation and expansion of the world’s first prison state.
Cartoon from Carlos Latuff of MintPress mocking the ridiculous double standards of the media (and Piers Morgan in particular) when it comes to Gaza.
29.03.202521:54
A professor at the center of the Columbia University deportation scandal is a former Israeli intelligence official, my new investigation reveals.
Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate of the university’s School of International and Public Affairs, was abducted by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) Saturday for his role in organizing protests last year against Israel’s attack on Gaza. Khalil’s dean, Dr. Keren Yarhi-Milo, head of the School of International and Public Affairs, is a former Israeli military intelligence officer and official at Israel’s Mission to the United Nations. Yarhi-Milo played a significant role in drumming up public concern about a supposed wave of intolerable anti-Semitism sweeping over the campus, thereby laying the groundwork for the extensive crackdown on civil liberties that has followed the protests.
Read my investigation in Yarhi-Milo's incredible background, and how Israel-linked billionaires helped to shut down the protest movement that swept America last year.
Betar US, a far-right pro-Israel hate group, is working closely with the Trump administration, sharing lists of thousands of Israel critics it wants deported from the United States. The organization, which was reportedly behind the arrest of Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, has a long history of terrorist incidents and calling for genocide. In my new report, I examine the rise to prominence of this well-funded extremist network.
Conor McGregor was the guest of honor at the White House’s St. Patrick’s Day celebrations this week. The Irish mixed martial arts star has announced his intention to run for president of Ireland, and is clearly attempting to win support from Trump and the MAGA movement.
McGregor’s politics are based on a deep-seated anti-immigration platform, as well as total support for the U.S. and Israel.
My new investigation explores the fighter’s long history of racist, xenophobic remarks, and gauges the likelihood that he could become the next leader of Ireland.
Why do Celtic fans show such love and support for the Palestinian cause?
The key to this question is in the club's history as a team set up for refugees fleeing the Great Irish Famine. Since then, their mostly Irish fans have always sided with the underdog, especially as Palestinians raised money to help with famine relief in Ireland.
Today, Celtic fans have set up a sister club for refugees in Bethlehem, and maintain close contact with local sides.
Chainsaw Diplomacy: Javier Milei’s Argentina Destruction Is Nightmarish Model for Musk, DOGE
Javier Milei made a special appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) earlier this month. The Argentinian president gifted Elon Musk a custom chainsaw, which he promised to use to drastically reduce public spending in his new role as the de facto leader of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Musk and Milei have become close bedfellows of late, the former clearly impressed by the latter’s wholesale slashing of government programs and entire ministries and his anarcho-capitalist politics. If Musk is indeed using Milei’s Argentina as inspiration for his own mission with DOGE, that bodes extremely poorly for the United States. Milei’s rule has led to mass impoverishment of the Argentinian people, the enrichment of the country’s elite, and the vast expansion of a burgeoning police state. Many Argentinians are watching on concerned, seeing parallels between Milei’s tactics and the Trump-Musk administration’s plans.
USAID Falls, Exposing a Giant Network of US-Funded “Independent” Media
The Trump administration’s decision to pause USAID funding has plunged hundreds of so-called “independent media” outlets into crisis, thereby exposing a worldwide network of thousands of journalists, all working to promote U.S. interests in their home countries.
In total, USAID spends over a quarter of a billion dollars yearly training and funding a vast, sprawling network of more than 6,200 reporters at nearly 1,000 news outlets or journalism organizations, all under the rubric of promoting “independent media.”
Read the article here to find out which countries and what publications are affected.
Since she has just been confirmed as Director of National Intelligence, it's worth revisiting my article on Tulsi Gabbard, and her trajectory from woke progressive to pro-drone militarist.
The Pentagon is recruiting Elon Musk to help them win a nuclear war.
Donald Trump has announced his intention to build a gigantic anti-ballistic missile system to counter Chinese and Russian nuclear weapons, and he is recruiting Elon Musk to help him. The Pentagon has long dreamed of constructing an American “Iron Dome.” The technology is couched in the defense language – i.e., to make America safe again. But like its Israeli counterpart, it would function as an offensive weapon, giving the United States the ability to launch nuclear attacks anywhere in the world without having to worry about the consequences of a similar response. This power could upend the fragile peace maintained by decades of mutually assured destruction, a doctrine that has underpinned global stability since the 1940s.
Football star Tom Brady and rap legend Snoop Dogg will appear in a big-money Superbowl ad denouncing hatred. The ad is paid for by the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, a group staffed by Israel lobbyists that attempts to equate opposition to Israel’s destruction of Gaza with anti-Jewish racism. The group was founded by billionaire owner of the New England Patriots, Robert Kraft, who is one of the pro-Israel Lobby’s most generous benefactors. Kraft has used his power to attempt to crush the nationwide Palestine solidarity movement on campus and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
I went on the "Coming From Left Field" podcast to discuss all things propaganda, as they relate to Venezuela, the United States and around the world. Catch the full episode here:
