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Before Donald Trump is officially canonized for ending the Israeli-Palestinian war and bringing peace to the Middle East, let’s do a reality check on Trump’s role and on the ultimate long-term impact.First, it was past time for Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war and he knew it. He had accomplished his goals: severely degrading Hamas, killing or injuring 10 percent of Gaza’s Palestinian population including over 20,000 children and 10,000 women, displacing nearly 90 percent of the population, and destroying Gaza’s infrastructure to ensure the displaced would come home to cataclysmic, unlivable ruin. He was also losing support in Israel every day the onslaught continued. Decades ago, Netanyahu was heard on tape as saying of the Palestinians, "We must beat them up, not once but repeatedly, beat them up so it hurts so badly, until it's unbearable." Netanyahu accomplished his goal.As the war raged on in 2025, Trump’s disdain for the Palestinians was evident. Trump offered to turn Gaza into a real estate magnate’s Shangri-La, assumedly free of Palestinians. He continued to supply Israel’s mighty military force with more weaponry against a woefully inferior opponent. Under Trump, the US voted against United Nations resolutions demanding a ceasefire in the Israel-Palestinian war, killing the resolutions.Trump refused to condemn Israel’s massacre of Palestinian civilians while the world’s International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, for using “starvation as a method of warfare,” restricting humanitarian aid, and intentionally targeting civilians. Under Trump, the US has refused to join the 147 nations that recognize Palestinian statehood or even commit to supporting a two-state Israeli-Palestinian solution. Trump has been Netanyahu’s boy since the beginning of the war, enabling Netanyahu to carry out his scorched earth campaign until the Palestinians were ground into the Gaza dust, their territory destroyed. Netanyahu was more than happy to reward Trump’s unconditional support by giving Trump an uncontested slam dunk: ending the war after Netanyahu had accomplished all he wanted. Of course, there will be no just peace agreement coming out of negotiations. Israel will maintain its military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, further increase its stranglehold on the territories, build more Jewish settlements in the West Bank in violation of international law, and prolong the misery under which Gaza residents will suffer for decades. A two-state solution, which any just peace agreement must include, will remain sheer fantasy until Netanyahu is no longer in power. As Netanyahu said in 1999 after sabotaging the Oslo Accords, which provided a roadmap for Palestinian statehood, “I’m proud I blocked a Palestinian state.” A two-state solution has always been anathema to Netanyahu, the Palestinians unwanted interlopers on lands rightfully belonging to Israel.An elaborate diplomatic charade will occur among participants in the peace negotiations that will ultimately end in Israel maintaining iron-clad control over Palestinian territories and making no significant concessions. Trump will brag about the settlement bringing peace to the Middle East when all it will do is ensure decades of subjugation of a badly broken Palestinian people to their brutal occupier.The entire world is thankful that the slaughter of Palestinian civilians and devastation of their homeland has ended. Netanyahu, however, should never be forgiven for his brutally asymmetrical response to the Hamas attack on Israel, resulting in 82 percent of the war’s casualties being Palestinians, 56 times as many as Israelis. It should also be remembered that Trump never wavered in his support for Netanyahu, that he refused to condemn the annihilation of Palestinians, that he continued providing weapons to Israel, that his administration killed UN ceasefire resolutions, and that his end-the-war overtures came after Netanyahu had demolished Gaza and killed 67,000 Palestinians. Netanyahu and Trump are kindred spirits, comrades in corruption, in extreme-right politics, in authoritarian rule, in undermining their countries’ democracies, and in their indifference to the suffering of Palestinians. In a 2001 tape discussing sabotaging the Oslo Accords, Netanyahu wasn’t concerned about the US response because the US, he said was “easily manipulated.” That remark was certainly prescient regarding his relationship with Trump.Netanyahu knows that as long as Trump is staunchly in his corner, he can do whatever he wants and the rest of the world be damned, including the UN, the International Criminal Court, international law, and the 149 nations that recognize Palestinian statehood. Trump’s loyalty has proven unshakeable throughout the war and will continue throughout the peace talks. Trump did not end the Israeli-Palestinian war. He was handed the “honor” on a silver platter by his grateful political doppelgänger. Until both men have mercifully left the political stage, Palestinians will be left twisting in the bitter wind. Tom Tyner is a freelance editorialist, satirist, political analyst, blogger, author and retired English instructor

Esther Njoki says family has seen ‘big change’ under Labour, after long fight for justice over aunt’s 2012 death in KenyaThe niece of Agnes Wanjiru, who was killed in Kenya, said she hopes the former British soldier charged with her aunt’s murder will be extradited while the Labour government is still in power.On her first trip outside Kenya, Esther Njoki travelled to London, where she was invited to parliament to meet the defence secretary, John Healey, whom she urged not to delay the potentially years-long extradition process. Continue reading...

President Donald Trump said he was looking at military strikes on land in Venezuela after weeks of targeting boats off the country's coast.While speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, Trump insisted that the U.S. Coast Guard could not effectively stop drug traffickers."We've been doing that for 30 years, and it has been totally ineffective," he insisted. "Some of these boats are seriously, I mean, they're world-class speed boats, and — but they're not faster than missiles.""Right now we have, I would say, none coming in through the seas. In fact, I don't know about the fishing industry," he continued. "We've almost totally stopped it by sea. Now we'll stop it by land.""I don't want to tell you exactly, but we are certainly looking at land now, because we've got the sea very well under control."According to The New York Times, the Trump administration recently authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela.

Trade policy isn’t sexy, but it is weighty, economically speaking. Jobs and wage-income are at-stake. Take President Trump’s trade policy, notably his fondness for tariffs, a tax on US imports that businesses and workers pay.We begin with the Trump administration’s decision to provide a $20 billion “swap line” (currency exchanges between central banks) with the government of Argentina. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is the point man for the White House on this financial and political issue. Behind Bessent is a Wall Street hedge fund manager, Rob Citrone, a major foreign investor in Argentina, CNN reported.The Latin American country is in financial distress over its issuance of foreign bonds since President Javier Milei slashed public spending to spur economic growth. Such economic policy goes by the name of austerity.However, Milei’s so-called pro-growth approach has had the opposite effect. Hunger and poverty among the Argentine working class are up. Workers’ household income is down.“Argentina’s poverty rate has soared to almost 53 percent in the first six months of Javier Milei’s presidency,” reports The Guardian, “offering the first hard evidence of how the far-right libertarian’s tough austerity measures are hitting the population.”What in part preceded such measures slamming the Argentine people was inflation, a general rise in prices.In the meantime, the Milei government cut the export tax on soybeans. Chinese buyers jumped at this opportunity, reportedly purchasing some 20 shiploads of soybeans from Argentina.That tax holiday cut revenue to the Argentine government, and created the trade conditions for lower export prices for foreign buyers. That arrangement didn’t fix the tax revenue problem for the Argentine government, however.Meanwhile, American Soybean Association President Caleb Ragland shared this statement on some impacts of Trump’s trade policy of tit-for-tat tariffs between the world’s two biggest economies:US soybean farmers have been clear for months: the administration needs to secure a trade deal with China. China is the world’s largest soybean customer and typically our top export market. The US has made zero sales to China in this new crop marketing year due to 20% retaliatory tariffs imposed by China in response to US tariffs. This has allowed other exporters, Brazil and now Argentina, to capture our market at the direct expense of US farmers.According to Politico, the use of tariffs in China-US trade is having far-reaching effects on American agriculture generally. “The 20 percent retaliatory tariff that Beijing has imposed on US imports hasn’t just pounded soybean producers. All agriculture exports to China were down 53 percent in the first seven months of 2025, compared with the same period last year, according to USDA data.”Ragland, head of the ASA, continues his criticism of Trump’s trade policy on American soybean farmers: “The frustration is overwhelming. US soybean prices are falling, harvest is underway, and farmers read headlines not about securing a trade agreement with China, but that the US government is extending $20 billion in economic support to Argentina while that country drops its soybean export taxes to sell 20 shiploads of Argentine soybeans to China in just two days.”ASA is calling on President Trump and his negotiating team to prioritize securing an immediate deal on soybeans with China. The farm economy is suffering while our competitors supplant the United States in the biggest soybean import market in the world.“What will the White House do to relieve the pain from the decline of demand from China for American agricultural products? Well, the president is considering a $10-$15 billion bailout for agriculture commodity producers.Wait. There is a federal government shutdown. In other words, the allocation and distribution of a federal bailout for farmers experiencing a shortage of buyers from China will have to wait for the government shutdown to end. Your guess is as good as mine when that happens.Such contradictions of economics and politics drive history, according to Marx. The federal government shutdown over health care spending while US Border Patrol agents and National Guard troops deploy on the streets of American cities for reason of so-called public safety are two cases in point. Trade policy that harms domestic agriculture generally and soybean growers particularly is another.Seth Sandronsky is a Sacramento journalist and member of the freelancers unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild.

Donald Trump on Sunday posted a comment about China, telling citizens not to "worry" about the country or his "highly respected" Chinese counterpart.The president took to his own social media site, Truth Social, over the weekend, where he insisted there was nothing to worry about with China, a nation which Trump recently threatened with even more tariffs in an escalating trade dispute."Don’t worry about China, it will all be fine!" Trump wrote Sunday. "Highly respected President Xi just had a bad moment. He doesn’t want Depression for his country, and neither do I. The U.S.A. wants to help China, not hurt it!!! President DJT."See the post here.

Donald Trump's administration just made an "unusual acknowledgement" about its immigration policies, according to a new report Saturday.In a weekend article called "Trump administration says immigration enforcement threatens higher food prices," the Washington Post reported, "In an unusual acknowledgement, the Labor Department said that tougher immigration enforcement is hurting farmers and the food supply.""The Trump administration said that its immigration crackdown is hurting farmers and risking higher food prices for Americans by cutting off agriculture’s labor supply," according to the Post. "The Labor Department warned in an obscure document filed with the Federal Register last week that 'the near total cessation of the inflow of illegal aliens' is threatening 'the stability of domestic food production and prices for U.S. consumers.'"“Unless the Department acts immediately to provide a source of stable and lawful labor, this threat will grow,” the official document reportedly states. “The Department concludes that qualified and eligible U.S. workers will not make themselves available in sufficient numbers."According to the report, "The American Prospect first reported on the Labor Department’s comments that immigration policies are endangering the food supply and that American workers are unwilling to take agricultural jobs.""The Labor Department’s comments appear to be the first time that the Trump administration has publicly acknowledged that its hallmark immigration policy — sealing the border and deporting undocumented immigrants — threatens labor shortages and higher food prices," according to the outlet's reporting. "However, economists have been sounding the alarm since Trump campaigned on the issue during last year’s presidential election."Read the full piece here.

Donald Trump's son-in-law just "played the president," according to a controversial writer.Michael Wolff, a journalist who has written four books about Trump, claimed on a recent episode of the podcast "Inside Trump's Head" that Jared Kushner may have recently "played" the president in connection with their efforts to secure a Middle Eastern peace deal.In a piece called "How Jared Played Trump to Grease Own Pocket: Wolff," The Daily Beast quotes the writer in asserting "Kushner’s business connections and Trump manipulation may have cleared the way for a Gaza peace deal."The outlet further notes, "Donald Trump’s (so-far) successful plan to end the conflict in Gaza was orchestrated by Jared Kushner in a bid to make himself richer, according to Trump biographer Michael Wolff. Speaking on the Inside Trump’s Head podcast, Wolff outlined how Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, played Qatar and the president in order to further his own business interests."The article quotes Wolff as saying Kushner "craves influence in the Middle East. He craves business opportunities in the Middle East. He craves further, deeper relationships with the powerful people in the Middle East, all of which is helped by peace. So peace becomes a byproduct of business."The Beast continues:"Wolff believes Kushner, along with real estate developer and US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, pressed their business connections with Middle Eastern royal families to broker the Israel and Hamas deal. On Friday, The New York Times reported on the extent of the pair’s involvement, which earned bipartisan praise."“The Qataris basically say... we will come down hard on Hamas,” added Wolff. “And remember, Israel attacked the Hamas negotiators, essentially the top Hamas leadership in Qatar. So they were completely freaked out about this. And I think they realized, this is not in our interest."Wolff himself has also been the source of some controversy. High-profile people like Tony Blair and Sean Hannity have denied quotes published by Wolff in his books.Read the full article here (subscription required).

Last weekend, Donald Trump ordered another summary execution of people on a fishing boat off the Venezuelan coast. The administration claims the dead were engaged in drug trafficking. Despite international outcry over the violence, Trump officials have provided no intel, no intercepted communications, no photos — no evidence whatsoever — that drugs were even onboard when the strike command was given.It was the fourth such strike by the US in as many weeks. The ship exploded on contact, bringing the death toll to 21 people killed on mere suspicion of drug trafficking. Trump defends the strikes as countering “narco-terrorist” members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang Trump has unilaterally designated a foreign terrorist organization. But equipment analysis rebuts his claim, because the small fishing boats could not have reached the US mainland due to distance and fuel limitations of the vessels’ small size. Whether they were engaged in drug trafficking or not, law-abiding nations do not kill without honoring protocol and process. The United Nations condemned the strikes because “International law does not allow governments to simply murder alleged drug traffickers.” Under international law, suspected drug traffickers should be “disrupted, investigated and prosecuted in accordance with the rule of law, including through international cooperation.” Extrajudicial killings are also forbidden under the US Uniform Code of Military Justice.Excessive force against Americans Instead of careful introspection in the wake of what appears to be murder on the high seas, Trump’s Secretary of “War” published snuff videos bragging about the violence, offering up raw meat for MAGA fans watching Fox News. During his recent speech to officers gathered in Quantico, Virginia, Pete Hegseth made his yearning for unrestrained “lethality” known, as he and Trump push Border Patrol, ICE and the US military to escalate barbarism at home. Trump’s unconstitutional war of brutality against Democratic-run cities has centered on LA, Chicago, D.C., and Portland, but it is just beginning. In last week’s middle-of-the-night ICE raid on a Chicago apartment building, sleeping families were jolted awake by masked strangers suddenly in their bedrooms. Children ripped from their beds were zip-tied and thrown outside, naked and screaming. Armed federal agents in military fatigues busted down doors, pulling men, women and children from nearly every apartment in the five-story building, most of them U.S. citizens. Federal agents used flashbang grenades to burst through doors, deployed drones and helicopters, and left the building trashed. Trump is champing at the bit to do the same and worse in Portland, Oregon, where he promised this week to send troops to attack “domestic terrorists,” authorizing the use of “Full Force, if necessary.” Trump justified the command in Portland by claiming it is necessary to protect ICE facilities, which he falsely described as “under siege from attack by Antifa and other domestic terrorists.” Brutality without restraintRobert Arnold, “the Poet of the South,” has recorded a hauntingly beautiful rejoinder to the Trump administration’s lust for violence. After witnessing Trump and Hegseth’s shameful speeches at Quantico, where Hegseth called for lessening the rules of conflict in favor of muscular lethality, Arnold wrote “On the silence of the generals.” Arnold’s talk is a seven-minute review of why military restraint makes nations strong, and how discipline rather than unbridled “lethality” advances humanity through peace. Every American should watch it. Arnold observes correctly that lethality without restraint is not strategy. It is butchery. As if responding to Trump’s and Hegseth’s snuff videos, Arnold notes that even during the Civil War, “General Grant, bloody and relentless, knew victory meant binding the wounds of the nation — not gloating in violence.” Arnold rejects Hegseth’s call for weakening the rules of conflict, and noted the silence of the generals in the room at Quantico as they listened to Hegseth and Trump debase the seriousness of combat: “Our Generals understand war is the most consequential of human actions — their decisions carry lives in the balance. They know that raw violence is a tool only to be used with precision, justification, and the dignity of restraint. They know war has consequences that echo for generations.Hegseth does not know this.Hegseth mistakes slogans for wisdom, violence for professionalism, brute force for strategy. He preaches lethality like a child who’s never had to carry the ghosts from a battlefield home with him. He sees the military as a weapon to be swung, not a burden to be borne.”Heed Arnold’s warningArnold’s words are haunting because they are true. The US military is the most lethal force on earth, “not because it is the most violent, but because it has chosen discipline over chaos, professionalism over cruelty.” Arnold warns correctly that the world will backslide into barbarism if Trump doesn’t stop. He stresses our nation’s “pride in knowing that we do not wage war like a third-rate regime.” If we abandon rules under the Geneva Convention and “reduce ourselves to brutality and call it strength, then the world will follow us into the pit. Other nations will cast off restraint, and humanity will slide backwards into darkness.”Trump and Hegseth know this. They know that murdering helpless people at sea will create permanent enemies, radicalized South Americans who hate us. Arnold points this out: “Every officer in the room at Quantico has seen insurgencies grow of careless violence. (They’ve seen) reports that turned into viral recruitment videos for radicals. (They’ve) knelt next to cots where names were written on slips of paper and learned that nothing erases a family’s grief except truth and restraint and accountability.”The silence of the generals at Quantico reflected the arithmetic of consequence: “For every enemy struck without care, there are 10 who will rise in hatred, and 50 children who will remember the smoke … To adopt third world cruelty is not to become stronger. It is to become smaller than what we claim to be.”The generals who sat quietly at Quantico did not need to say this out loud. Their silence said it for them. Sabrina Haake is a columnist and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. Her Substack, The Haake Take, is free.