But why was Epstein collecting all this material? As Bresheeth-Zabner states: "This was not just the madness of Epstein. It was functional. He was collecting evidence." The files reveal an elaborate surveillance operation—hidden cameras, meticulous record-keeping and a systematic approach to entrapping powerful figures.

The question of who Epstein worked for remains contested, but US intelligence operatives have stated flatly that Epstein was working on behalf of intel services, specifically for Israel. Former CIA officer John Kiriakou described Epstein as a "textbook example of an access agent," noting the intelligence community's reluctance to discuss his ties to Israelis. Even Attorney General Pam Bondi, when asked directly, did not deny the possibility.

What Bresheeth-Zabner calls the ‘Epstein button’—compromising material on politicians—now appears to have been pressed. Democratic politician Graham Platner states flatly: "This war is being pushed by Benjamin Netanyahu... because Donald Trump is in the Epstein Files." This aligns with Bresheeth-Zabner's account that Netanyahu came to give Trump orders, with the implicit threat: If you don't do this, we press the Epstein button.

This consensus is splitting the empire’s political forces, as the world's largest blackmail database has now been deployed to drag the US into a war its people never wanted.

A declassified August 2012 Defence Intelligence Agency memo explicitly predicted the rise of a "Salafist principality" in eastern Syria and western Iraq—exactly what became the ISIS caliphate. The DIA noted that "western countries, the Gulf states and Turkey" were supporting the opposition, “in order to isolate the Syrian regime, which is considered the strategic depth of the Shia expansion (Iraq and Iran)”.

Beginning in 2012, the CIA, MI6, Saudi intelligence, and Qatari security services began training and arming Syrian rebels in Jordan. But these "moderate rebels" quickly became conduits. Within months, the weapons—anti-tank missiles, ammunition, even US-made M16 rifles—were in ISIS hands, sometimes within "days or weeks" of purchase.

The collapse of Mosul sealed the deal. As Iraqi soldiers fled, they abandoned truckloads of US-supplied Humvees, tanks, and weaponry—all seized by ISIS and paraded in propaganda videos while Washington did nothing.

In response to the western-backed Takfiri onslaught, Iran deployed its military advisors, Hezbollah sent its battle-hardened fighters, Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Forces mobilised hundreds of thousands, and the Syrian Arab Army—backed by Russian airpower—ground down the caliphate street by street. This was the Axis of Resistance in action: the same coalition the US and Israel are now bombing.

Today, the US and Israel are attacking Iran—the very nation whose forces were instrumental in defeating ISIS. They are bombing the coalition that cleaned up their mess. The war on Iran is not about nuclear weapons or regional stability. It is about destroying the only force capable of filling the vacuum that American wars create. The same empire that incubated ISIS now seeks to eliminate those who defeated it.

Embarrassingly for the Americans, the event came just two days after a national address where US President Donald Trump claimed that “[Iran] have no anti-aircraft equipment. Their radars are 100% annihilated”.

Iran’s downing of US warplanes was facilitated by its use of passive infrared detection, which is invisible to the technology America has spent trillions building its air superiority around.

“This what they get for f*cking with a country full of engineering and math geniuses,” said American film director Matthew Cherry.

In his national address, Trump added that the U.S. has “beaten and completely decimated Iran” and was “going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast.”

However, such bold statements are being contradicted by battlefield realities.

US officials told NBC that roughly half of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers are still intact and thousands of one-way attack drones remain in its arsenal.

In addition, multiple missile stockpiles buried underground in Iran remain undamaged, with Iran “getting better at hiding the weaponry it has,” according to Kelly Grieco, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, an American foreign affairs think tank.

Although Trump remains insistent that the US is an unstoppable military force, Iran continues to embarrass the United States and its $1 trillion dollar military budget.

Throughout the course of this war, the aggressors have hammered tens of thousands of targets across Iran, yet the Persian powerhouse maintains its significant missile launching capabilities and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Marketed as organic to generate public consent for war on Iran, the riots that spread across Iran were exposed as foreign meddling operations well before they reached their peak.

Now, the same media institutions that peddled the riots as organic are now admitting the role of imperialist intelligence agencies in sparking them - as part of a larger plan to topple the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Political economist and political scientist, Dr Radhika Desai, explains that since the 1970s, the neoliberal turn has dismantled post-war reforms that had produced a rare golden age of shared prosperity. In their place emerged a system where deregulation, privatisation, and the relentless pursuit of profit became the organising principles of society—including the business of war. As she explains, when "defence production whose purpose is not the defence of your country but the profits of certain private corporations" prevails, catastrophe is inevitable.

The numbers tell the story. On the first day of strikes against Iran, defence stocks soared: Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and RTX rose by 4-6 per cent, creating $25–30 billion in shareholder value in a single session. RTX, the manufacturer of the Tomahawk missiles used extensively against Iran, has climbed 110 per cent since 2023. The Pentagon now seeks $200 billion in additional war funding, on top of the possible $1.5 trillion allocated.

This is not incidental. It is structural. The military-industrial complex, according to Dr Desai, is "a kind of trough on which the pigs that are the military-industrial complex corporations feed greedily". Cost-plus contracts guarantee profits regardless of performance. Weapons that cost a fraction of their listed price are sold at multiples of that price, with American taxpayers footing the bill.

Israel's defence sector tells the same story. Elbit Systems shares have surged 45 per cent since January. Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries have seen double-digit growth as weapons tested in Gaza are now deployed against Iran.

The pipelines connecting weapons manufacturers to lobbyists to think tanks to politicians ensure that the machinery of war never stops.

Capitalism in its neoliberal form has no interest in peace. Peace doesn't generate profits. War does. And while 1,400 Iranians lie dead and families mourn, the shareholders celebrate. That is the system.

#USA #Israeli #Aggression #Iran

Fifty-seven years ago, King was murdered in Memphis, Tennessee. While he led historic marches for voting rights, desegregation, and labour justice, his most “dangerous” act, at least in the eyes of the US establishment, was his fearless opposition to American imperialism. On 4 April 1967, he publicly denounced the war in Vietnam, exposing how violence abroad breeds repression at home. That speech marked a turning point. One year later, he was killed.

Today, the same institutions and media outlets that now sanitise and lionise King once branded him a radical, a troublemaker, and a threat to the “American way of life.” He was surveilled, smeared, and vilified while alive, only to be celebrated once silenced.

In this 1966 video clip, King admits he is tired of marching, not physically but emotionally. He says he is exhausted because these rights should have been granted to Black people in America at birth. He speaks honestly about the weight of knowing his life could be taken at any moment. King was tired of the constant battle with the US government, which seemed resistant at every step, dragging its feet on justice and equality. Two years after this video was recorded, he was assassinated.

The fight continues. Imperialism still strips people of dignity, resources, and real self-determination. King reminds us that justice delayed is justice denied. And even when we grow weary, we must persist, because oppression anywhere remains a threat to freedom everywhere.

Rest in power, King.

Credit: ‘Eyes on the Prize,’ @PBS (1987-90) / @TheKingCenter

*Please note that as of the time of release, donation links to the legal fund are not available yet, but we will edit the show notes to make the link available when the links are up. In the meantime, be sure to follow the Communist Party Marxist - Kenya for updates as well - on Twitter @CommunistsKe, on Facebook, YouTube, or on Instagram and their website at https://cpmk.org/.

Also, be sure to listen to the 3 other episodes on Guerrilla History with Booker - History and Class Analysis of Kenyan Elections Dispatch, Building the Communist Party of Kenya, and Targeted by the State - Comrade Booker Omole from the Communist Party of Kenya On State Repression and His Personal Ordeal

You can support Guerrilla History on patreon as well: https://patreon.com/guerrillahistory

Booker Omole is the General Secretary of the Communist Party Marxist - Kenya. He can be found on Twitter @BookerBiro.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ajjdclxsl0

The film does more than document; it confronts and challenges the idea that these objects are being 'preserved' when, in reality, they remain far removed from the people who created them.

Just a year after its release, the film was banned in Ghana, dismissed as 'anti-British'. But the attempt to suppress it only amplified its message, and what was meant to be buried instead echoed across borders.

Control of the cultural narrative has always been a central weapon in the colonial arsenal. By stealing artefacts, ancient statues, artwork, and other material heritage, the defining characteristics of a people's past, colonial powers deliberately severed colonised peoples from the sense of national cohesion and groundedness that such heritage provides.

While anti-colonial struggle must certainly address material needs, shedding the shackles of colonialism also requires confronting the immaterial: the restoration of dignity, memory, and identity. As Amílcar Cabral declared: "The liberation struggle is a cultural revolution. It is not only a struggle against the colonial regime, but also against the colonialist mentality that has been imposed on our people. We must decolonise our minds."

More than five decades later, the question at the heart of Owoo’s film still stands—unresolved and urgent.

Why are the cultural and spiritual inheritances of Africa still held behind glass or hidden underground in institutions built on empire?

Speaking on April 1, 2026, Traoré announced that a revolutionary manifesto will be released in the coming days, outlining the revolution’s framework across multiple social sectors. The document aims to “structure the revolutionary ideology to better guide and durably transform Burkinabè society.”

The Burkinabe president and the leader of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) revealed that several foreign armies had offered fighters to assist in counter-terrorism operations. “By our intrinsic values, we said no, we will fight as Burkinabè,” Traoré declared, stating that Burkina Faso is now “winning the bet” and reconquering enemy-held territory.

On economic sovereignty, Traoré delivered a concrete vision of self-sufficiency: “If you wear imported shoes, as a revolutionary, you must find the cobbler so that we can create them here. If you carry a weapon, you must at all costs seek to manufacture the weapon here.”

The speech positioned Burkina Faso as a continental vanguard against Western domination. “We must be the flame that enlightens the minds of other Africans to take the path of revolution,” Traoré said, explicitly rejecting “the dark destiny of democracy imported from imperialists.”

The announcements come amid broader national restructuring. Burkina Faso has adopted a 2026-2030 recovery plan with a 36,000 billion CFA franc budget focused on security and economic transformation, and consolidated sovereignty through the Alliance of Sahel States alongside Mali and Niger.

#BurkinaFaso #IbrahimTraore #AES #Sovereignty

For Palestinians, this is not a future threat—it is already a reality. Inside Israeli prisons, nearly 10,000 Palestinians are held. Among them was 17-year-old Walid Ahmad, a Brazilian citizen detained without formal charges. He never made it out—he was starved to death. After nearly a year of international intervention, the court delivered its verdict: Walid was starved. No one will be held accountable. Case closed.

Walid's story is not isolated. In recent months, at least 89 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli custody due to medical neglect, abuse, and brutal conditions. Just days ago, Palestinian journalist Marwan Hirzallah was reported dead in detention.
As one family member noted, the law "does not even pretend to seek justice; it seeks revenge". A Palestinian Prisoners' Club representative warned: "Execution is not waiting to be approved—for us, death in detention is already happening".

The world watches while Israel legislates what it has long practised: the systematic killing of Palestinians in its custody. Now, it has made the policy explicit. The question is no longer whether executions happen, but whether anyone will stop them.

As Iranian drones and missiles rain on the UAE as the former resists US-Israeli aggression, the UAE's carefully curated image as a "safe" global business hub has been shattered.

But in a desperate attempt to preserve that illusion, the UAE is cracking down on video footage of the country's skies through draconian cybersecurity laws that criminalise the simple act of witnessing history.

According to advocacy group Detained in Dubai, sharing, posting, or even receiving footage of Iranian drones or missiles in Emirati skies is now a one-way ticket to a desert prison.

Over 80 nationals from the Global South are behind bars for simply documenting the reality of the war. A Western passport does not offer any protection either, with approximately 70 British citizens also imprisoned and facing up to a decade in prison.

But the most dangerous aspect of the UAE's cybersecurity laws is that they also apply to actions committed outside its borders.

If you have interacted with, liked, or shared footage of the Iranian response on social media at any point in the last five years, you are a target.

This means that if your flight has a layover in Dubai, you could be pulled from the transit lounge and disappeared into one of the world's most opaque and unjust legal systems before you ever reach your destination.

It does not matter if you are an activist or a journalist. Even for a casual traveller, the UAE is a trap. Would you risk a decade in the prisons of a country that is known for torture just for a transit stop?

This is why, for the sake of safety, it is necessary to #BoycottUAE.

The policy is part of an “Israeli” attempt to enforce a media blackout on their defeat in south Lebanon as the Occupation military’s invasion into Lebanon struggles to continue.

The reporters were icons in reporting on the Israeli aggression in south Lebanon in 2024 and 2026.
Choeib’s reporting took viewers through Israeli defeats throughout the 90s and into the 2000 liberation of Lebanon as well as the 2006 war.

That evening, Sovereign Media went to a rally with fellow journalists and supporters of Choeib and Ftouni, gathering near Martyr’s Square in downtown Beirut to mourn the martyred reporters.
Here’s what some of them had to say

Helyeh Doutaghi is scholar of international law and geopolitical economy. Her research explores the intersections of the Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), encompassing postcolonial critiques of law, sanctions, and international political economy. Dr. Doutaghi’s research draws on the mechanisms, harms, and beneficiaries of the sanctions regime imposed on Iran, centering questions of value transfer and wealth drain. Additionally, she is interested in International Humanitarian Law (IHL), having written about its history, practice, and the production of knowledge (and ignorance), particularly in the context of the US military. She was expelled from Yale Law School and the LPE project for speaking up for Palestinian liberation last year. She is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Tehran, where she will focus on completing her manuscript on the Iranian sanctions regime and neoliberalism.

Bikrum Gill is a scholar of international political economy, and author of "The Political Ecology of Colonial Capitalism: Race, Nature, and Accumulation", published by Manchester University Press.

Alex Aviña is an Associate Professor of History at Arizona State University. He is a historian of Mexico and Latin America.

Sovereign Media reporter Inemesit Richardson talked to protesters in Ouagadogou, Burkina Faso to learn about their motivations for defending Niger’s government.

#AES #Niger #EuropeanParliament

As Iranian drones and missiles rain on the UAE as the former resists US-Israeli aggression, the UAE’s carefully curated image as a “safe” global business hub has been shattered.

But in a desperate attempt to preserve that illusion, the UAE is cracking down on video footage of the country’s skies through draconian cybersecurity laws that criminalise the simple act of witnessing history.

According to advocacy group Detained in Dubai, sharing, posting, or even receiving footage of Iranian drones or missiles in Emirati skies is now a one-way ticket to a desert prison.

Over 80 nationals from the Global South are behind bars for simply documenting the reality of the war. A Western passport does not offer any protection either, with approximately 70 British citizens also imprisoned and facing up to a decade in prison.

But the most dangerous aspect of the UAE’s cybersecurity laws is that they also apply to actions committed outside its borders.

If you have interacted with, liked, or shared footage of the Iranian response on social media at any point in the last five years, you are a target.

This means that if your flight has a layover in Dubai, you could be pulled from the transit lounge and disappeared into one of the world’s most opaque and unjust legal systems before you ever reach your destination.

It does not matter if you are an activist or a journalist. Even for a casual traveller, the UAE is a trap. Would you risk a decade in the prisons of a country that is known for torture just for a transit stop?

This is why, for the sake of safety, it is necessary to #BoycottUAE.

#Iran #UAE #GlobalSouth

Speaking at the ANC Limpopo elective conference on 29 March, South African President and ANC head, Cyril Ramaphosa, delivered a powerful indictment of the US-Israeli assault on Iran. “The illegal war that is being waged by the United States and Israel is another act of imperialist aggression that has placed the global economy and international security at great risk,” he declared.

Ramaphosa cautioned that advocates of power politics need to realise their approach is rejected by the countries of the Global South, where the focus is on equity, multilateralism and cooperation rather than the domination of weaker nations.

This stance reflects South Africa’s broader foreign policy under the ANC. The country continues to support “nations that are struggling for self-determination,” such as Palestine, Cuba and Western Sahara.

In 2023, South Africa brought a genocide case against Israel to the ICJ, and the court ordered Israel to prevent genocidal acts. Ramaphosa has stated, “South Africa remains committed to playing its part… to fulfil the promises of the Genocide Convention.”

South Africa also anchors the Global South’s push for multipolarity. It is one of the original members of the BRICS economic bloc, which has expanded to 11 member states and continues to grow. Meanwhile, South Africa’s support for Cuba remains unwavering. In March, 28 African parties signed a declaration in Johannesburg demanding an end to the US blockade.

And now, the costs of the war on Iran are being felt directly at home. Ramaphosa has ordered a ministerial task team to cushion South Africans from a looming fuel price hike driven by “the conflict that is going on” in the Middle East, which is giving him “sleepless nights.” As Iran’s embassy in Pretoria noted, “The people of South Africa have always shown that they stand on the right side of history.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has been perhaps the most moral centered Western politician since the start of the US-Israeli regime change war on Iran. He has not limited himself to symbolic criticism.

Instead, he has acted decisively denying the US access to Spanish bases, closing national airspace to war operations, and openly rejecting the narrative of “preemptive necessity” used to justify violence. His government has paired this resistance with domestic protections, shielding ordinary people from the economic shockwaves of war through energy relief measures and subsidies.

What distinguishes Sánchez is not only his opposition to war, but the clarity with which he frames it: as a reckless gamble imposed on millions, driven by power rather than security. His stance breaks with a long tradition of European deference to unilateral interventions, asserting instead a commitment to sovereignty, international law, and human dignity.

This position extends to Palestine, where Sánchez has consistently challenged the imbalance of global sympathy and accountability. By recognizing Palestinian statehood and condemning disproportionate military force, he has aligned Spain with a growing call for justice rather than selective silence. His advocacy for ceasefire, humanitarian aid, and legal accountability reflects a broader refusal to accept the normalization of occupation and collective punishment.

Taken together, Sánchez’s actions signal a shift toward a foreign policy rooted less in alliance loyalty and more in ethical responsibility. In an era marked by renewed great-power aggression, his approach stands as a reminder that dissent within the West is still possible, and that resistance to cycles of war can take tangible, sovereign form.

Former political prisoner Qesser Zuhrah was granted bail after being snatched from her bed during the early hours of the morning by British police officers who were responsible for arresting and detaining this former UCL student for allegedly sharing an "Instagram story” on their social media.

Qesser Zuhrah, who went on hunger strike for over 60 days, was recently released after spending 15 months incarcerated, where she experienced frequent abuse by the prison system.

Despite the intimidating tactics, this young woman remains unintimidated as she sends a powerful message to her brothers and sisters across occupied Palestine, held in Israeli dungeons.

This is a segment from The Electronic Intifada's livestream on day 902 of the Gaza genocide. Ali Abunimah, Nora Barrows-Friedman and Jon Elmer were joined by writer, reporter and researcher Asem Alnabih. You can watch the full show here: https://youtube.com/live/42GzQ1VCRbY

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As Trump threatens to target Cuba next, peace organisations are demanding action from Ottawa to oppose Washington’s escalation against Cuban sovereignty.

A petition launched by the Canadian Network on Cuba calls upon the government of Canada to refuse to participate in, support, or legitimise U.S. military, economic, or political aggressions and to deepen economic ties, trade and assistance to Cuba.

@prensacamila reports

#Activists #USA #Cuba #Sovereignty