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Jared Kushner drew immediate backlash for a social media post claiming President Donald Trump had opened a new chapter of 'peace' in the Middle East, as a U.S.-initiated war raged on.Kushner posted Thursday on X to mark what he called the six-year anniversary of the Abraham Accords — the 2020 diplomatic agreements that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states.The comments came despite a war that Trump began February 28 by launching strikes against Iran, igniting a regional conflict that has since drawn in Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen, according to the Council on Foreign Relations."Magical thinking is the new norm in this US administration," former diplomat Alan Eyre responded on X, quoting Kushner's post.Eyre spent 40 years as a U.S. Foreign Service diplomat and served as the sole career diplomat on the U.S. nuclear negotiating team that produced the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.In his post on X, Kushner claimed that Trump had delivered what many said was impossible."Six years ago, President Trump launched the Abraham Accords and opened a new chapter of peace, partnership, and prosperity in the Middle East," Kushner wrote."The Middle East is once again at an inflection point," the president's son-in-law added. "Now we have an opportunity to build an even broader movement around cooperation, shared prosperity and security."In the February 28 strike on Iran, the U.S. and Israel killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and dozens of senior military figures, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. The war has not ended.Since March 2, Israel has also waged a separate war in Lebanon, where more than 4,300 people have been killed, including at least 253 children, according to the United Nations.Former Obama White House national security spokesman Tommy Vietor was among those who replied to Kushner directly on X."Yes the Middle East has been so peaceful since the signing of the Abraham Accords. No new wars. No slaughter of innocent people. Just good vibes and trade deals," Vietor wrote.Kushner, however, focused on the future."We surprised the world once. With the right leadership, focus, patience and courage, I believe we can do it again," he wrote.Andreas Krieg, a security analyst at King's College London, was less optimistic."Project 'Peace in the Middle East' is going very well indeed," Krieg replied to Kushner.The Strait of Hormuz — through which 20 percent of the world's oil once flowed — remained effectively closed as of Wednesday, with U.S.-Iran negotiations stalled, according to CNN.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s out-of-the-blue announcement that she is abandoning her current job to become an off-the-books adviser to the president raised eyebrows on Thursday.During a panel discussion on MS NOW’s “On The Line” with host Alicia Menendez, it was noted that the imminent departure of President Donald Trump’s spokesperson comes on the heels of an unexpected and controversial memo from Attorney General Todd Blanche released on Tuesday, after he was sworn in.According to the Blanche memo, the executive privilege that shields White House advisors will now extend to private citizens who advise the president.“It remains to be seen whether a court will say that its construction of who is entitled to executive privilege is valid or not,” MS NOW legal correspondent Lisa Rubin told the panel. “But, at least as the DOJ considers it, is Karoline Leavitt, an outside adviser when she leaves the presidency, the presidential administration, and continues to talk to Trump on the phone and give him advice?" "Absolutely,” she elaborated. “Because that memo defines the term private adviser in a breathtakingly broad way, it's basically anyone that the president calls or anyone that even his direct staff calls and solicits advice from can be a private adviser to the president.”Host Menendez, pointed out, “I think what is interesting to me is the fact that it is happening in the shadow of this memo, where now it feels a little bit like that Oprah moment: ‘You get a car, you get a car, you get a car.’”“Now it's like ‘You're a private advisor, you're a private advisor, you're a private advisor,’ because they now have a legal shield that they did not previously have,” she added.Conservative Amanda Carpenter, a Trump critic, suggested, “What Trump is trying to do here, and through this memo is shield any kind of accountability that may come later. I view this as a kind of preemptive strike against any accountability that might come after the midterm elections.” - YouTube youtu.be

President Donald Trump has a crack problem — and America is paying the cost of it, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman.Krugman argued on Substack Thursday that Americans are unlikely to see gas prices drop because, as he put it, "Donald Trump is not a well man. He is, unfortunately, also President, which means that we all pay a price for his inability to accept reality."That "reality," according to Krugman, is that Iran has outmaneuvered him and the war is lost.The former New York Times economist argued oil prices are higher than is generally understood because of the difference between the cost of a barrel of crude and that of the products refined from that barrel — or "crack spread." Since the beginning of the war, that crack spread has "exploded," rising by roughly $35 per barrel, Krugman wrote. Refining capacity worldwide has been significantly constrained because much of the world's refining capacity is either trapped inside the Strait or offline as a result of Ukraine's drone campaign against Vladimir Putin, according to Krugman's analysis.Therefore, the shortage of refining capacity has held crude prices down, as buyers are not willing to pay extremely high prices for crude oil they cannot refine, explained the economist.The cutoff of oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz has required a large rise in global oil prices to ration demand, but much of that rationing has taken place through a rise in "the crack spread" rather than a rise in crude oil prices.For the United States, the implications are immediate, the economist warned. Inflation, which was held down in recent months by falling fuel prices, is set to rise again in upcoming economic data. Gasoline prices have risen back above $4 per gallon, while diesel prices have returned above $5 per gallon.

Man dies in Bas-Uele after travelling from Haut-Uele, as head of WHO says outbreak on track to be deadliest everThe Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has spread to a sixth province, officials have said, a day after the head of the World Health Organization said the outbreak was on track to surpass the deadliest in history, which killed at least 11,000 people more than a decade ago.The current outbreak has killed more than 2,100 people out of more than 4,500 cases, according to the latest government figures released on Tuesday. At the same point in the 2014-16 outbreak in west Africa, the previous most deadly outbreak, 755 cases had been recorded, according to WHO data. Continue reading...

A frantic President Donald Trump insisted Wednesday that the U.S. maintains control of the Strait of Hormuz even as transit hit record lows and peace talks stalled, reports show. “The U.S.A. has total control over the Strait of Hormuz," wrote Trump on Truth Social. "I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT! Our Naval Blockade is being called, by everyone, ‘A WALL OF STEEL,’ and there is nothing Iran can do about it."This boast arrived as problems mount in ceasefire talks with Iran, multiple reports show. "Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict and fully re-open the strait have continued to stall," Al Jazeera reported. "Iran has continued to assert its influence over the strait as it has pursued talks with Oman on future management. Wider peace talks with the US have been largely paused amid the Iran-Oman talks, which do not include Washington."What's more, multiple news outlets report just eight vessels passed through the strait this week, compared to pre-war 130 ships a day.Nonetheless, on Truth Social, the president claimed things could not be better.“They have no Navy, they have no Air Force, their remaining soldiers are unpaid, the IRGC is decimated and fleeing, and their ‘Leadership’ is uncertain, at best!” he continued, “They have No Money - Their country is ‘shot.’”Trump also claimed Iran has a problem currently plaguing his own nation. “All they have is FAKE NEWS and 300% INFLATION, and getting worse! Iran is all talk and no action, the Bully of the Middle East No Longer," he wrote. "Praise be to Allah!”

Former CIA official Marc Polymeropoulos admitted on Wednesday morning that he was baffled by President Donald Trump’s answers about his controversial plane switch in Turkey following a NATO meeting.Appearing on MS NOW, the 26-year intelligence veteran called out the president for rambling answers during Tuesday's press conference.With the White House fending off complaints that the president put others in danger of a foreign attack while he was whisked away by a catering truck to an alternate plane, Polymeropoulos claimed Trump is now making things worse for his defenders.Saying the government had a “duty to warn” others who were put at risk by the Trump administration, the former spy called the events “pretty dramatic.”“In this case, you really look, it looks like that Air Force One, the original Air Force One, was at some risk and the secretary of state assumingly knew this, but the press corps and other members of the staff did not,” he explained. “And so I think the American people deserve to know how this decision-making process evolved,” he suggested. “And first of all — or just to kind of bookend President Trump's remarks there about the alternate aircraft being at greater risk — I have no idea what he's talking about.”“That actually flies in the face of all of this, he pointed out. “But I think that's just kind of the usual verbal kind of word salad we hear that makes no sense whatsoever,” he added. - YouTube youtu.be

Supporters of the MAGA movement finally understand their needs come last with President Donald Trump, a new political analysis contends.The Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi argued Wednesday that cash-strapped conservative voters may not understand the nuances of international finance — but they can't help but see the widening gap between their incomes and the Trump's. Wrote Mahdawi, "It’s becoming more obvious to even the most diehard MAGA fan that they are being put last."While Mahdawi called out Trump for slashing USAID and sending major cash to conservative think tanks abroad, she also warned such policy shifts were unlikely to land with MAGA voters. "What does the average Trump voter, who was promised an America-first agenda, think about all this money going to 'public education' programmes in the UK instead of all the underfunded public schools at home?" she wrote before suggesting, "The short answer is: they’re not thinking about it at all."But what they are beginning to realize is that Trump's estimated $2.2 billion earnings last year had to have come from somewhere, the columnist argued. And Trump isn't doing himself any favors with his apparent lack of concern, she concluded. "Trump, for his part, has brushed off cost-of-living concerns, declaring last year: 'I don’t want to hear about the affordability,'" she wrote. "[The president] should start listening."

A new report issued by the State Department lays out an alarming blueprint for criminalizing dissent against the Trump administration through a dubious link to Cuban foreign subversion, critics say.The July 20 release of the State Department report "Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism" comes on the heels of a global gathering of counterterrorism officials in Washington hosted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to enlist U.S. allies in cracking down on a perceived global left-wing terrorism threat.The Cuba report posits that “a sustained campaign of subversion against the United States” by the beleaguered communist nation through espionage and terrorism is responsible for sustaining and shaping the political left in the United States today, including “antifa” and a host of “leftist nonprofits, anti-ICE collectives, social groups and Marxist militant organizations.”In a chapter titled “Front Groups & Fellow Travelers,” the report spotlights an array of domestic leftist groups calling on the U.S. to lift the embargo against Cuba and opposing the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort through militarized surges by federal agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol.While raising the specter of terrorism and espionage in two chapters dedicated to each subject, the report highlights a range of activities by U.S. activist groups, including registered charities.None of the activities are criminal. They include organizing initiatives, political advocacy, aid convoys, work stoppages, campaigns for political office, monitoring of law enforcement, and raising bail funds to support protesters. Rubio asserted a link between Cuba and domestic protest groups during his remarks at the opening of the July 16 Ministerial on the Resurgence of Political Violence."The Cuban regime’s sprawling intelligence and ideological network helped to build the far left in our country and in our hemisphere,” he said. “And it remains inextricably linked to the far-left groups and movements across and beyond the West."Critics charge that the report, coupled with Rubio’s effort to mobilize a global counterterrorism coalition against the left, poses a threat to Americans’ constitutional rights. By tying domestic dissent to national security, critics say, the Trump administration could justify more robust surveillance measures, along with sanctions, that aren’t available under the constitutional safeguards that typically limit domestic law enforcement.“I think the concern is they’re hyping fears of a foreign threat to tie in actors here on domestic soil,” Tom Joscelyn, who served as a senior professional staff member on the House Jan. 6th Committee and helped write its final report on the attack on the U.S. Capitol, told Raw Story. “Whether they can do that with Cuban communists or a foreign antifa group, they can use counterterrorism tools on American people: surveillance, de-banking, and other strong counterterrorism tools.”Joscelyn added that there is no evidence of an actual “foreign nexus” to justify deploying counterterrorism measures against domestic opponents of the Trump administration, so “they’re inventing one because they don’t have one.”The State Department did not respond to requests for comment for this story.Among other U.S. organizations, the State Department report targets the National Network on Cuba, which it describes as “a key node for coordination between the Cuban regime and the American far left.” The report raises an alarm about a “National Rapid Response Plan” distributed by the network in June, which the State Department describes as “a detailed strategy for activating and launching ‘coordinated nationwide actions’ against federal institutions, U.S. military bases, and ICE detention centers and field offices in the United States within 24 hours of U.S. military action… against Cuba.”But the State Department report omits any mention of the types of actions that are outlined in the plan. Far from being terrorist strikes as the report insinuates, they are familiar protest activities, including rallies, meetings, art builds, flyering, and banner drops. Also belying any notion of a call for criminal violence, the document recommends: “Make your plan now and start publicizing it.”In another example, the report targets the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization, a registered charity which has a history of sending humanitarian aid and solidarity delegations to Cuba. The report claims that the foundation “facilitates radical agitation within the United States” through a separate fiscal sponsorship program.The report lists five groups accused of “radical agitation” that receive donations through the fiscal sponsorship program. One, a Black women-led organization, advocates for Haitian refugees, currently facing deportation following the Supreme Court decision upholding the Trump administration’s decision to end temporary protected status. Another is described as advocating for the abolition of the police, ICE and prisons, and fighting “gentrification” and “police violence” in Brooklyn. Yet another group, described as a “Black Queer Feminist led, abolitionist organizing project,” is engaged in a mission of “reimagining and rebuilding our own systems towards liberation.”Nowhere in the short bullet points for each group, which appear to be drawn from their websites, does the State Department allege any specific criminal misconduct.The anti-ICE, police abolitionist and pro-LGBTQ+ positions of the targeted groups mirror the focus of National Security Presidential Memorandum/NSPM-7, a directive issued by President Trump last September to “investigate and disrupt” leftist movements motivated by, among other things, “extremism on migration, race and gender.”The report assails the People’s Forum for partnering with the New York chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America “to recruit up to 4,000 ‘rapid response’ activists to counter ICE enforcement operations in the city” and helping to organize a “nationwide anti-ICE school and business shutdown” in January.Following the State Department report, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Rep. Jason Smith (R-MO), subpoenaed the People’s Forum to probe it for alleged foreign influence.The People’s Forum decried the State Department report as advancing “false and sweeping allegations that everyone opposing the criminal blockade of Cuba or supporting social justice movements are left-wing terrorists.” The organization went on to describe the State Department report and congressional probe as being “part of an escalating crusade against all progressive organizations and any group or person who expresses opposition to the ultra-right, racist, and pro-war policies of the Trump White House.”The National Lawyers Guild, itself a target of the State Department report, flagged the document as a signal that the administration is “consolidating its legal architecture of fascist repression,” part of an escalation that also includes stiff sentences handed down to anti-ICE activists in Texas who were present at a protest that turned violent and the ongoing prosecution of 15 anti-ICE activists in Minneapolis charged with conspiracy for blockading a federal facility and tracking immigration agents in the field.The Global Project Against Hate & Extremism, meanwhile, said the State Department’s recent moves appear to build on previous efforts by the Trump administration to punish perceived enemies by ordering investigations of former officials such as Miles Taylor and Chris Krebs, and prosecuting former FBI Director James Comey. “None of these actions required the pretext of the ministerial or a report about Cuba,” the group said in a recent report. “Instead, those just serve as justification for the administration to dig deeper. The administration appears to be creating a framework that recasts constitutionally protected speech, protest, and association as foreign-directed extremism, making the next round of investigations and prosecutions easier to sell to the public.”Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at the July 16 ministerial on leftist political violence that, following Trump’s direction in NSPM-7, the Treasury Department is “expanding its efforts to identify organizations that abuse charitable and nonprofit structures as vehicles for illicit finance.“We are examining where tax-exempt status has been exploited, where charitable entities have become financial conduits for foreign-influence activity and how those entrusted with stewardship of these organizations have instead enabled violence,” Bessent said. Code Pink, another registered charity and one of the groups named in the State Department report, received a “Request for Information” letter from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control seeking information about a humanitarian trip to Cuba in March to deliver medical supplies for children’s hospitals, the group confirmed to Raw Story.The State Department accused Code Pink of “brazen and overt propagandizing on behalf of several hostile regimes” while describing it as exemplifying “domestic American ‘anti-imperialist’ and Third Worldist organizations” serving as “vectors of subversive foreign influence.”Melissa Garriga, a spokesperson, told Raw Story, “Code Pink does not work on behalf of any foreign government; our actions and campaigns are influenced by deadly U.S. foreign policy funded by our tax dollars.”Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate & Extremism, told Raw Story the most troubling aspect of the State Department report is that it vilifies First Amendment-protected activities.“Solidarity trips, aid convoys, and anti-embargo advocacy are constitutionally protected speech and association, not evidence of foreign control,” she said. “By blurring compassion for Cubans into ‘being directed by Cuba,’ the report revives a familiar Cold War tactic, effectively demonizing dissent as foreign-directed subversion.”