They're indicting Raul Castro for the shoot down of the planes in the 90s. The press conference is a bit repetitive, you'd think Castro killed hundreds or something in a bombing.

Kill hundreds of civilians by shooting down their plane and you get a medal from the US.

Also, finish your current course before starting your next.

(Can't remember which strategic genius that sage advice ultimately comes from; Sun Tzu, Clausewitz, or my mum)

Well, apparently/ according to the NYT*, the US/ Israeli plan was to have Mahmoud Ahmedinajad become the new (old) Iranian leader.

Under normal circumstances you'd have to laugh at the idea of one of Iran's most hardline leaders- and supposedly linked to the revolutionary Hostage Crisis/ storming of the US embassy, pro nuclear program, stridently anti west etc etc- being advanced as a proxy by the US, and laugh at the idea of him deciding it was a bad idea only after the plan to free him from house arrest resulted in him getting injured (killed in early reports). Completely absurd, and would make you question the nature of reality- or be convinced it was a clumsy and obvious psy op to get Ahmedinajad hanged- 2 years ago.

Given it's Donald 'concept of a plan' Trump though it has to be given at least some consideration for being accurate.

*doesn't seem to be a gift article link, but isn't paywalled for me.

Interesting tech news... a copy of googles cloud software running in Europe. European location, German staff. No access for Google or its subsidiaries.

https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/news-centre/press-releases/thales-announces-strategic-partnership-google-cloud-launch-new-sovereign

Edit: tl;dr; a European version of Google cloud that US authorities have no access to.

not like eu doesn't love mass surveillance the same way usa do

entire anglosphere also have politician bought to push social media age verification nonsense

Edited May 22May 22 by uuuhhii

Republicans cancel votes amid fight over Trump's ‘anti-weaponization' fund

In the USA, we're rapidly approaching political "silly season" as politicians posture for the upcoming election. In this case, some Republicans are objecting to Redacted's 'anti-weaponization' slush fund. I guess that isn't as silly as usual. At least the police who were attacked on Jan. 6th are taking the settlement to court. Redacted likes to break the rules, but perhaps this was a crime too far?

On 5/19/2026 at 4:42 AM, rjshae said:

So... after weaponizing the DoJ to go after his enemies, Redacted is creating a $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund. Guess who will be the recipient of those funds? Heh. They're not even trying to hide the corruption any more.

Trump creates $1.8B "anti-weaponization" fund after dropping IRS suit

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-22-2026

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-21-2026

Massive pushback, a " mutiny", from GOP senators around Trumps $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund

Good to see some backbone from Congress

Edited May 23May 23 by BruceVC

Cuba is a national security threat to the US, Rubio says

Cuba's foreign minister accused Rubio of trying to "instigate a military aggression".

Soon they'll be 2 weeks away from having nuclear weapons

ussr should have put silo on cuba

could have been the end of civilization

but really the only way to make usa back off

We all tend to discuss the events of the war with Iran but what is understandably ignored is the reality of how broken the Iranian economy is and how much worse it will be once this war is over

It was in a terrible state before the war, this was the initial reason we had all those protests that were brutally crushed

So the Internet shutdown has been partially lifted and now we seeing how normal Iranians are grappling with the economic realty and the levels of inflation

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...ons-reveal-iranians-anger-over-food-inflation
"The partial lifting of internet restrictions in Iran has revealed a rising tide of anger about food price inflation as ordinary Iranians decry annual price increases of 308% for vegetable oil, 190% for chicken, and 170% for rice

Everything is so expensive. It has become a disaster,” wrote one user on social media. “You leave the market with a broken heart after spending all your savings. It is unbearable. We have no patience left to lead a normal life.

The government announced the launch of a “resistance economy committee” to crack down on price gouging and address surging shortages, but hyperinflation is now endemic in Iran owing to trade sanctions, exchange rate pressure, and moves taken to reduce subsidies given to traders in January.

Data from the International Monetary Fund showed food inflation had risen to between 140% and 200%, pushing overall inflation to 70%."

4 hours ago, BruceVC said:

It is unbearable. We have no patience left to lead a normal life.

...and this is how a new generation of militant young people grow up 😖

disclaimer: Not exclusively of course, but a contributing factor

1 hour ago, Gorth said:

...and this is how a new generation of militant young people grow up 😖

disclaimer: Not exclusively of course, but a contributing factor

I understand the point but that concern applies more to groups like the Palestinians and the Israeli conflict. The Israeli's will kill civilians, family members and destroy houses and that often does just radicalize people

But Iran and this article is a different reality. This is more about the severe economic hardships that exist in the country and how the war has made them obviously worse

Ostensibly its not make the average Iranian more militant but it will increase unhappiness with the state once the war is over

Our world-class hypocrite is rapidly draining the strategic national oil reserve, after criticizing Biden for the same.

America’s pile of emergency oil is shrinking fast

But what else is new.

Trumps United States’ 250th anniversary has had 6 of 9 musicians refusing to participate

Its a pity that these events become politicized but this is an example of how unpopular he is amongst musicians and this is self-inflicted because being part of this event sends a message and clearly many people dont want to be associated with anything he organizes

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/28/trump-concert-series-musicians-drop-out

"At least six of the nine featured musical acts set to play in a concert series organized by the Trump administration to mark the United States’ 250th anniversary have dropped out, just one day after the lineup was announced.

The artists were never told about any political involvement with the event,” he added, before casting doubt on the claim from Freedom 250, the group created by Donald Trump to organize the celebration of the US’s semiquincentennial, that the series was nonpartisan."

2 hours ago, BruceVC said:

The artists were never told about any political involvement with the event

Bro, the whole thing is political by nature.

I tried for a while, but couldn't find any trustworthy link that wasn't paywalled around the subject, but apparently those many billions of dollars pledged and/or donated to Trumps "peace board" initiative to help rebuilding Gaza hasn't seen a single dollar spent. Not only that, but they are not on any account subject to transparancy nor accountability. This includes 10 billion dollars from the US government. All sent to Trumps personal JP Morgan account. Sounds like the Scott Morrison government, just on a more ambitious scale.

...still looking for usable links...

37 minutes ago, Gorth said:

I tried for a while, but couldn't find any trustworthy link that wasn't paywalled around the subject, but apparently those many billions of dollars pledged and/or donated to Trumps "peace board" initiative to help rebuilding Gaza hasn't seen a single dollar spent. Not only that, but they are not on any account subject to transparancy nor accountability. This includes 10 billion dollars from the US government. All sent to Trumps personal JP Morgan account. Sounds like the Scott Morrison government, just on a more ambitious scale.

...still looking for usable links...

Yes as predicted it became a completely useless initiative

The idea from Trump's rhetoric was that it was going to " replace " the shortfalls of the UNSC\UN because it would act quickly and decisively and its initial focus was the rebuild of Gaza

As I often say, it's easy to criticize and malign the UN but its not ever going to be effectively replaced

So the entire idea of the Board of Peace was always a waste of time particularly because no Western countries wanted to be part of it

Amazing how people fall for his grift though.

Hold up, are you saying you didnt buy any of his NFTs?