Common Dreams reports: “In a primetime address, President Donald Trump reiterated his threat to destroy Iranian energy infrastructure and provided no timeline for an end to his illegal war.” See videos of Trump in contrast to George W. Bush on Iraq — similarities in false WMD justifications and differences in threats to bomb back “to the stone age.”
Ronny Sasmita writes in “Dimona’s shadow: How Israel’s nuclear monopoly warps Middle East security” for Middle East Monitor: “History shows that Israel’s nuclear ambitions were not merely a reaction to external threats, but part of a broader geostrategic design to secure regional hegemony.”
Truthout reports: “U.S. Killed Children in Iran Using New Missile That Explodes Into Pellets.”
Drop Site News reports: “U.S.-Israeli strikes target Iran’s healthcare system; Israel continues bombing of Lebanon, assassinates Hezbollah commander.” Also: “Iran Rejects U.S. Narrative That It Must Adhere to Trump’s ‘Disingenuous’ Negotiation Framework.”
Ibrahim Al-Amine writes in Al-Akhbar: “Lebanon’s current leadership and its affiliated institutions have aligned with Israel on the issue of disarming Hezbollah. President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam are advancing this agenda with the support of parties such as the Lebanese Forces and the Kataeb Party, which have long awaited such an opportunity.”
Amwaj reports: “Marking one month of war, Iran’s parliament speaker dares U.S. ground invasion.”
Trump also said: “We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of daycare. You gotta let a state take care of daycare, and they should pay for it too. … It’s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things.”
JENNIFER LOEWENSTEIN, [email protected]
Loewenstein is former associate director of Middle Eastern Studies and senior lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has lived in and reported extensively on the Mideast. She appeared on the IPA news release “Netanyahu Meets Trump for Fifth Time this Year” in December.