US military preparing for potentially weeks-long Iran operations - Reuters

 

by Reuters

"Sometimes you have to have fear. That's the only thing that really will get the situation taken care of," Trump said.

 

The world's largest aircraft carrier, the U.S. Navy nuclear-powered Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) arrives in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, December 1, 2025.

(photo credit: Seaman Abigail Reyes/U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERS)

The US military is preparing for the possibility of sustained, weeks-long operations against Iran if President Donald Trump orders an attack, two US officials told Reuters, in what could become a far more serious conflict than previously seen between the countries.

The disclosure by officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the planning, raises the stakes for the ongoing diplomacy between the United States and Iran.

US and Iranian diplomats held talks in Oman last week in an effort to revive diplomacy over Tehran's nuclear program, after Trump amassed military forces in the region, raising fears of new military action.

US officials said on Friday that the Pentagon was sending an additional aircraft carrier to the Middle East, adding thousands more troops, fighter aircraft, guided-missile destroyers, and other firepower capable of conducting attacks and defending against them.

Trump, speaking to US troops on Friday at a base in North Carolina, said it had "been difficult to make a deal" with Iran.

"Sometimes you have to have fear. That's the only thing that really will get the situation taken care of," Trump said.

US President Donald Trump makes an announcement at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 12, 2026. (credit: REUTERS/JONATHAN ERNST)

Asked for comment on the preparations for a potentially sustained US military operation, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said: "President Trump has all options on the table with regard to Iran."

"He listens to a variety of perspectives on any given issue, but makes the final decision based on what is best for our country and national security," Kelly said.

The Pentagon declined to comment.

The United States sent two aircraft carriers to the region last year when it carried out strikes against Iranian nuclear sites.

However, June's "Midnight Hammer" operation was essentially a one-off US attack, with stealth bombers flying from the United States to strike Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran staged a very limited retaliatory strike on a US base in Qatar.

Risks increasing

The planning underway this time is more complex, the officials said.

In a sustained campaign, the US military could hit Iranian state and security facilities, not just nuclear infrastructure, one of the officials said. The official declined to provide specific details.

Experts say the risks to US forces would be far greater in such an operation against Iran, which boasts a formidable arsenal of missiles. Retaliatory Iranian strikes also increase the risk of a regional conflict.

The same official said the United States fully expected Iran to retaliate, leading to back-and-forth strikes and reprisals over a period of time.

The White House and Pentagon did not respond to questions about the risks of retaliation or regional conflict.

Trump has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and crushing of internal dissent. On Thursday, he warned the alternative to a diplomatic solution would "be very traumatic, very traumatic."

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have warned that in case of strikes on Iranian territory, they could retaliate against any US military base.

The US maintains bases throughout the Middle East, including in Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Trump for talks in Washington on Wednesday, saying that if an agreement with Iran were reached, "it must include the elements that are vital to Israel."

Iran has said it is prepared to discuss curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions, but has ruled out linking the issue to missiles. 

Reuters

Source: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-886588

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Trump: 'Seems like regime change in Iran would be the best thing that could happen' - i24News

 

by i24News

'For 47 years, they've been talking and talking and talking. In the meantime, we've lost a lot of lives while they talk. Legs blown off, arms blown off, faces blown off'

 

File photo of Donald TrumpAP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

 

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday appeared to endorse the idea of the overthrow of the Islamic regime in Iran, telling reporters it "seems like that would be the best thing that could happen," as Washington continues to up its military presence in the region. 

US-Iran: What's next? US send second military aircraft to Middle East

“Seems like [regime change in Iran] would be the best thing that could happen. For 47 years, they've been talking and talking and talking. In the meantime, we've lost a lot of lives while they talk. Legs blown off, arms blown off, faces blown off," he told reporters. 

Recommended

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"We've been going on for a long time. So let's see what happens. Who would you want to take over? Tremendous power has arrived, and additional power, as you know, and other carriers going out shortly, so we'll see it now, if we could get it settled for once.” 

U.S.-Iran talks: Trump: Iran would be 'foolish' to no make a deal

Earlier on Friday Trump confirmed that Pentagon was sending an additional aircraft carrier to the Middle East, adding thousands more troops along with fighter aircraft, guided-missile destroyers and other firepower capable of waging attacks and defending against them.

US President Trump's Psychological Games With Iran

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Trump has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and brutal crackdown on dissent that ended with tens of thousands dead. Earlier this week he warned that the alternative to a diplomatic solution would "be very traumatic, very traumatic."

i24News

Source: https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/artc-trump-seems-like-regime-change-in-iran-would-be-the-best-thing-that-could-happen

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Trump declares that voter ID will be required to vote in the midterm elections - Misty Severi

 

by Misty Severi

The comment comes after the House passed the Republican-led Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which requires individuals to present proof of citizenship to register to vote and to show ID when voting.

 

President Donald Trump declared Friday that voters will need to present identification to vote in the midterm elections this November, even if legislation does not get through Congress in time.

The comment comes two days after the House passed the Republican-led Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which requires individuals to present proof of citizenship to register to vote and requires Americans to show ID when voting.

Trump said in a social media that he has "searched the depths of legal arguments" on voter identification and will be presenting an "irrefutable" argument in favor of requiring it in the "near future." 

"There will be Voter I.D. for the Midterm Elections, whether approved by Congress or not," he said.

The president continued in another post on Truth Social that the majority of voters are in favor of requiring IDs to vote in elections, including the majority of Democrats. 

"It’s only the political 'leaders,' crooked losers like [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer and [House Minority Leader Hakeem] Jeffries, that have no shame," Trump wrote. "This is an issue that must be fought, and must be fought, NOW! If we can’t get it through Congress, there are legal reasons why this SCAM is not permitted. I will be presenting them shortly, in the form of an Executive Order."

Trump additionally claimed Americans do not want mail-in ballots in future elections except for military service members who are stationed overseas, people with disabilities or people who are traveling at the time of the election.

The comment comes as lawmakers in both chambers prepare for midterm elections later this year. The primaries begin next month while the general election will take place in November.  

 

Misty Severi

Source: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/all-things-trump/trump-declares-voter-id-will-be-required-vote-midterm-elections

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IDF intercepts drone carrying three M-16 rifles in anti-smuggling operation - Goldie Katz

 

by Goldie Katz

The drone, which was identified as entering Israeli territory from the west, was located by troops and discovered to be carrying rifles.

 

M-16 carried into Israel by drone before being intercepted by IDF troops.

(photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

 

IDF observation troops and the Aerial Control Center intercepted a drone attempting to smuggle three M-16 rifles into Israel on Friday, the military announced on Saturday.

The drone, which was identified as entering Israeli territory from the west, was located by troops and discovered to be carrying rifles.

The weapons were transferred to security forces for processing, the IDF stated.

IDF Cheif of Staff conducts situational assessment

Also on Friday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir visited IDF troops stationed in Rafah during a situational assessment in the Gaza Strip.

Zamir spoke to soldiers, instructing the troops to keep removing threats present in the area and emphasizing the importance of destroying Hamas’s underground terror tunnel infrastructure.

“The IDF is deployed along a security border – the Yellow Line – overseeing the crossings to the Gaza Strip, and is precisely dismantling terror infrastructure in the area,” Zamir said. “We are prepared to transition from a defensive posture to an offensive one. For any violation, we will respond and degrade their capabilities.”

Zamir added that the IDF refuses to relinquish the original objectives of the Israel-Hamas War, “the full demilitarization of the Gaza Strip and the disarmament of Hamas.”

“We are operating in accordance with the directive of the political echelon, while maintaining military plans for their defeat, and we stand ready to act defensively as required. We will continue strengthening the defense of the communities of the western Negev,” he affirmed.

Zamir stated that there will be “no immunity for terrorism,” adding that “what applies to terrorists in Gaza applies to the terrorists in other arenas as well,” and that the IDF “will continue to remain focused and remove threats, with determination and a proactive approach.”

Goldie Katz

Source: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-886603

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Three men jailed in UK over Islamic State-inspired plot to kill hundreds of Jews - Goldie Katz

 

by Goldie Katz

Walid Saadaoui, Bilel Saadaoui, and Amar Hussein were arrested and jailed for involvement in and knowledge of a terror plot to target the UK’s Jewish population.

 

Walid Saadaoui, Bilel Saadaoui, and Amar Hussein were arrested and jailed for involvement in and knowledge of a terror plot to target the UK’s Jewish population.

(photo credit: Greater Manchester Police)

 

Three men were jailed for involvement and knowledge of a plot to kill hundreds in an Islamic State-inspired attack on the Jewish community in England, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) announced on Saturday.

The plot, if successful, would have been “one of the deadliest terrorist attacks to ever take place on UK soil,” according to GMP Assistant Chief Constable Rob Potts.

Walid Saadaoui and Amar Hussein were both found guilty of preparing acts of terrorism after a trial at Preston Crown Court and were sentenced to minimum sentences of 37 and 26 years, respectively.

Saadaoui’s younger brother, Bilel Saadaoui, was additionally found guilty of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism and was sentenced to six years in prison.

According to GMP, Saadaoui masterminded the plot and recruited Hussein to participate.

Saadaoui, Hussein crafted plot through online communications

In late 2023, Saadaoui came into contact online with an individual he believed to be a fellow extremist, and after multiple messages were exchanged between the two, “it soon became clear that Saadaoui was keen to conduct a significant terrorist attack targeting Jewish people,” GMP stated.

Saadaoui believed the individual could help him import automatic firearms to use in the terrorist attack and began developing the plot, going so far as to “conduct reconnaissance around Upper Broughton in Salford” and visit the port through which they believed the weapons would be smuggled.

According to a BBC report, Saadaoui planned to obtain four AK-47 assault rifles, two handguns, and 900 rounds of ammunition for the firearms.

The individual sought out by Saadaoui for help with the plot turned out to be an undercover agent who played a “crucial role” in foiling Saadaoui and Hussein’s would-be terrorist attack, according to GMP.

Through Saadaoui’s discussion of the plan with the undercover agent, it became clear to GMP that his younger brother knew about the planned attack but remained silent, an action Potts stated “makes him as guilty as the others.”

According to the BBC, Saadaoui was arrested by counter terrorism police on May 8, 2024, in an operation with over 200 officers involved. He was apprehended in the parking lot of a hotel while attempting to collect the firearms he planned to use in the attack.

The BBC additionally reported that Saadaoui came to the attention of authorities when he began using social media accounts to spread Islamist extremist views. He used over 10 accounts, none of which were created in his own name.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Goldie Katz

Source: https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-886575

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Britain's Jewish community pushes back as antisemitism reaches historic levels - Neville Teller

 

by Neville Teller

After October 7, British Jews abandon quiet diplomacy, mobilize institutions, and secure unprecedented government backing

 

A demonstration was organized by the Campaign Against Antisemitism outside Downing Street in London in October to mark one week since the attack on a synagogue in Manchester. The Jewish community is not taking the onslaught of antisemitism lying down.

(photo credit: Chris J Ratcliffe/AFP via Getty Images)

 

Over the past two years, Britain’s Jewish community has been subjected to a level of public hostility and antisemitism unprecedented in modern British history, surpassing anything seen since the Jew hatred, massacres, blood libels, and expulsion that took place during the Middle Ages.

This time around, the Jewish community is not taking the onslaught lying down. It is fighting back, and parts of the government have voiced strong support.

A slow, but undeniable, increase in antisemitic activity in the UK over the 1980s and 1990s led to the establishment in 1994 of the Community Security Trust (CST), a charity dedicated to protecting British Jews from terrorism and antisemitism.

Working closely with the government and the police, the CST provides physical protection for synagogues, Jewish schools, and communal institutions. It also monitors, records, and analyzes antisemitic incidents and extremist activity, publishing widely cited statistics and research reports.

Post-October 7 surge

In the three months following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, the CST recorded a 589% increase in antisemitic incidents in the UK compared with the same period in 2022.

Unlike earlier spikes that faded quickly, CST noted “sustained levels of antisemitism” through 2024, tied to the continuing Israel-Hamas war. Regular pro-Palestinian rallies in London and other cities, with activists displaying anti-Israel banners and shouting anti-Israel slogans, have helped maintain fear and pressure on the Jewish community.

The surge has been visible in schools, universities, workplaces, and on the streets. Online abuse is at an all-time high. Leading community figures, such as CST Chief Executive Mark Gardner, have described British Jews as being “harassed, intimidated, threatened, and attacked” in daily life.

Others repeatedly describe a climate in which many Jews feel the need to avoid certain public spaces on protest days, hide religious symbols, and increase security for synagogues and schools.

The deteriorating situation in the UK recently led Robert Garson, described as a lawyer associated with US President Donald Trump, to declare that “the UK is no longer a safe place for Jews” and suggest they seek sanctuary in the United States.

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post on January 19, he said, “I thought: ‘Jews are being persecuted in the United Kingdom. They fit a wonderful demographic for the United States… So, why not?’”

Good question. There is an answer.

No easy refuge

The notion of the US offering refuge to British Jews is ironic, not to say paradoxical, given that American Jewish communities are themselves experiencing historic highs in antisemitic incidents.

Across many US university campuses, anti-Israel activism and protests have expanded dramatically since October 2023. In New York City, one of the first acts of the newly inaugurated Mayor Zohran Mamdani was to revoke city-level adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.

Fleeing across the Atlantic would, as the old English saying goes, be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.

Former Conservative cabinet minister Michael Gove, Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice, and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis lead a ‘march against antisemitism’ in central London, in September 2025. (credit: Carlos Jasso/AFP via Getty Images)

All the same, a 2025 survey commissioned by the Campaign Against Antisemitism found that some 61% of British Jews had considered leaving Britain in the previous two years. The survey did not record their preferred destination, but it is far more likely to be Israel than the US.

From quiet diplomacy to public action

In the atmosphere of crisis, the body accepted as representing the UK’s Jewish community, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, modified its traditional quiet diplomacy position – often criticized in the past – and adopted a more active approach.

In the week immediately following the October 7 attacks, the Board of Deputies, together with the Jewish Leadership Council, organized a vigil outside Downing Street, attended by around 5,000 people, and a large vigil in central Manchester, to show solidarity with Israel and give public voice to British Jews’ shock and fear. The Board’s then-president, Marie van der Zyl, also issued a public message condemning the Hamas atrocities and stressing the Jewish community’s distress.

The government responded. On February 28, 2024, at the CST annual dinner, then–prime minister Rishi Sunak announced “more than £70 million over the next four years” for the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant, calling it “the biggest single financial commitment any government has made to protect Jewish communities.” The grant was later guaranteed until 2028.

In late October 2025, in partnership with other communal bodies, the Board of Deputies published a document detailing the Jewish community’s vision for strategies to combat antisemitism, focusing on policing and security, extremism, civil society, and schools and universities.

This document drew on months of engagement with ministers and officials following the deadly attack on a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur 2025. It was explicitly designed to “form the foundation for ongoing work between government, experts, and partners within and beyond the Jewish community to root out antisemitism from British society.”

All across the UK, local Jewish communities have also set about taking action, from actively engaging with councils and universities to more organized professional and student pushback against post-October 7 antisemitism.

For example, in the northern city of Leeds in West Yorkshire, a grassroots group called Leeds Leads Against Antisemitism (LLAA) was set up in March 2024; it started out by asking city leaders to reaffirm the IHRA definition of antisemitism. In Scotland, the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council (GJRC) reported that in response to “ongoing disruption on the university’s campus, it demanded action from university professionals.” And in Bristol last October, the local city council declared its “solidarity with the Jewish community,” following approaches from local Jewish representatives.

Speaking for the community

Throughout this period, Britain’s Chief Rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, has acted as the lead spokesman on behalf of the Jewish community. On the day after the Hamas attack, he spoke out.

In a BBC interview broadcast on October 8, 2023, he framed the attacks as “one of the most awful terrorist outrages in living memory,” linking Israel’s trauma to UK Jewish vulnerability. He said that “every Jewish family in the UK” had been affected by the Hamas attacks, underscoring the need for the UK to protect its Jewish citizens.

The next day, Monday, October 9, Mirvis convened and addressed a large community gathering at Finchley United Synagogue in North London. Prime minister Rishi Sunak attended and, speaking from the bimah, addressed the community: “My first duty is to protect you… I promise you: I will stop at nothing to keep you safe.”

Within days, Sunak announced an additional £3 million for the CST to protect schools, synagogues, and other Jewish buildings, bringing the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant to £18 million for 2023-24.

In July 2024, a new Labour government, headed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, took office. Although it offered more restrained support to Israel during the Gaza conflict, it has taken action in response to the upsurge in antisemitism in the UK itself.

On October 15, 2025, following the Manchester synagogue attack, the government announced “up to £10 million in an emergency cash injection” to scale up security at synagogues and schools, noting that Jews are “proportionally, the most likely victims of hate crime in the UK.”

British Jews form a tiny segment of the global Jewish Diaspora. In the 2021 UK Census, about 290,000 people identified as Jewish – roughly 0.5% of the population. Under intense pressure since October 7, the confidence of many British Jews was shaken. However, increasingly, signs suggest a reassertion of communal resolve and a determination to fight back.■

Neville Teller, a former senior civil servant, is the Middle East correspondent for Eurasia Review. Follow him at: www.a-mid-east-journal.blogspot.com/

Neville Teller

Source: https://www.jpost.com/jerusalem-report/article-886082

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Partial shutdown of Homeland Security Department begins after Congress fails to approve funding - Misty Severi

 

by Misty Severi

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is not expected to be impacted because of extra funding it received in its operating budget that was passed by Congress last year.

 

The Homeland Security entered a partial shutdown early Saturday after the Senate failed to approve funding for the rest of the year because of Democrat objections to immigration enforcement.

The Senate left town without the deal Thursday and is not expected to return until Feb. 23, unless the Trump administration reaches a funding deal with congressional Democratic leaders before then. 

Although certain agencies under DHS will be impacted by the shutdown, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is not expected to be impacted because of extra funding it received in its operating budget that was passed by Congress last year, which is expected to keep it operational for five years.

ICE is also considered essential to public safety so its operations would have been expected to continue, even if workers did not get paid. 

Agencies that are expected to be impacted by the shutdown include the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Transportation Security Administration, which warned air travelers Thursday that their flights could be impacted by the shutdown. Air Traffic Controllers will not be impacted because they are funded by the Transportation Department.

The United States Coast Guard could also be impacted by the shutdown because it falls under DHS, but it is only expected to suspend its trainings, while search and rescue operations will continue, CBS News reported. 

Misty Severi

Source: https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/department-homeland-security-goes-shutdown-loss-federal-funding

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China’s disappearing elite: The high-stakes gamble behind Xi’s crackdown - analysis - Amichai Stein

 

by Amichai Stein

Empty seats define President Xi’s rule, as China’s political elite faces a relentless purge.

 

PRESIDENT OF CHINA Xi Jinping reviews troops during a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of World War II’s end, in Beijing, Sept. 3, 2025.

(photo credit: TINGSHU WANG/REUTERS)

 

In the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, the choreography is usually flawless. The red flags are perfectly aligned, and the applause is synchronous.

The goal of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and President Xi Jinping, who has ruled the country since 2012, is to project an image of unbreakable unity and inevitable rise.

However, in recent years the carefully curated image of stability has been shattered by a reality that looks more like a high-stakes thriller than a bureaucratic procession. The dominant feature of Beijing’s political landscape is no longer the applause but the empty seats.

From the unceremonious removal of a former president from his chair in front of TV cameras to the vanishing of foreign and defense ministers and the purging of top generals, China is undergoing a political earthquake that has left Western intelligence agencies and geopolitical analysts scrambling for answers. Is this a sign of a paranoid dictator losing his grip, or a supremely confident leader fine-tuning his machine for a conflict that will reshape the world order?

The tremors began publicly in October 2022, during the closing ceremony of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. In a scene that shocked the world, former Chinese leader Hu Jintao was physically led out of the hall while seated next to Xi Jinping.

Gen. Zhang Youxia, Chinese Central Military Commission vice chairman, attends a Martyrs’ Day ceremony in Beijing, Sept. 30, 2025. (credit: Florence Lo/File/Reuters)

“An unceremonious departure for a former Chinese leader,” Zi Yang, a senior research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, tells the Magazine. “Hu was basically asked to leave. It seems like Hu had no idea what was going on. To see a former leader carried out like that was, of course, quite shocking to many observers.” It was a visual declaration: The old guard was gone. This was Xi’s party now.

But what followed was even more bizarre. One morning in July 2023, Qin Gang, the foreign minister, simply evaporated – he did not arrive at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. “Health reasons” was the official explanation given by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

A rising star in the CCP and former ambassador to the United States, Qin “had been a favorite of Xi Jinping. It’s said that Xi Jinping actually liked to drink on his airplane with Qin Gang, that they were very good friends,” explains Prof. Dennis Wilder of Georgetown University, a former senior director for East Asia at the National Security Council.

'Regarding your question, I have no information to provide'

When asked about Qin’s whereabouts, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Mao Ning, offered a response that has become a hallmark of the current era: “Regarding your question, I have no information to provide.” Weeks later, Qin was stripped of his title. Rumors swirled.

“What seems to have happened in this case is that Qin Gang began an illicit relationship with a Chinese news reporter,” Wilder suggests, noting reports that the affair may have resulted in a child.

Qin was not alone. Liu Jianchao, the man responsible for the party’s international liaison work, also vanished from the public eye that same year. The pattern was clear: Proximity to the leader offered no protection.

If the diplomatic purges were mysterious, the upheaval in the People’s Liberation Army was alarming. The very men tasked with modernizing China’s military and preparing it for a possible invasion of Taiwan are being removed at a staggering rate.

Qin Gang, Chinese foreign minister, meets with then-US secretary of state Antony Blinken, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, June 18, 2023 – the month before he ‘evaporated.’ (credit: Leah Millis/Pool/Reuters)

“Nowhere in Chinese military history – except perhaps under chairman Mao – have we seen anything as unprecedented as this purge,” notes Wilder.

The purge has reached the very apex of the military hierarchy. Gen. Zhang Youxia, the vice chairman of the Central Military Commission and effectively the second-most powerful man in the military, came under scrutiny and was removed from his post last month.

“Resolutely investigating and dealing with Zhang Youxia is a major achievement in the party and military’s struggle against corruption,” stated Jiang Bin, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of National Defense, using the party’s preferred euphemism for political removal.

In Taipei, Taiwan, preparing Spring Festival couplets ahead of Lunar New Year celebrations, Feb. 10. (credit: ANN WANG/REUTERS)

“They didn’t really use the word ‘purge’; they used the phrase ‘under investigation.’ But that’s basically the first step of being purged. Usually, nobody is found innocent through these investigations,” says Zi Yang.

The chaos has been particularly acute in the Defense Ministry. Li Shangfu, who became the defense minister with the shortest tenure in Chinese history, was ousted amid corruption allegations. His successor, navy veteran Dong Jun, has reportedly faced similar scrutiny.

Brig. Gen. (res.) Assaf Orion, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies and director of the Diane & Guilford Glazer Israel-China Policy Center, views this as a systemic cleansing of the officer corps.

“We are talking here about a cleaning out – or elimination – of the entire group... the Chinese military top brass, who were all appointments from Xi Jinping’s era,” Orion explains.

According to Orion, the official line always circles back to “corruption, disciplinary violations, and violations of party laws,” but the subtext is power dynamics. The accused are often charged with creating “cliques or influence networks” that can be viewed as a threat to Xi’s rule.

The Wall Street Journal has reported even more damaging allegations, suggesting that some generals, including Zhang Youxia, were suspected of leaking secrets related to China’s nuclear program to the United States.

While Wilder believes these leaks might be a “cover for what’s really happening” – a raw political struggle – the implication is stark: Xi feels he cannot trust the men who control his nuclear arsenal.

“There seems to be quite a lot of infighting among the elites,” says Zi Yang. “And Xi seems like he does not trust anyone at that level.”

WHY IS Xi Jinping dismantling the very leadership structure he spent a decade building? The conventional wisdom suggests a leader gripped by paranoia, seeing shadows of treason in every corner.

However, Ian Johnson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and renowned China scholar, offers a counterintuitive perspective. In an interview, Johnson argued that these moves might stem not from fear but from hubris.

“I think he is fundamentally unsure about the people he’s surrounded himself with,” Johnson says. “He is probably doing this out of not so much paranoia but perhaps extreme self-confidence.”

According to Johnson, Xi feels he has such absolute control that he can afford to treat the military leadership as interchangeable parts.

“He feels that he can get exactly the people he wants running the military. It might be like fine-tuning the leadership,” Johnson explains.

While it is easy to “construct a scenario where he’s paranoid, schizophrenic,” Johnson contends that Xi is acting out of a belief that he has “complete control.”

This view contrasts with the assessment of other analysts who see the purges as a sign of fragility. “When some of these generals start building up their own factions by promoting their own underlings, perhaps that alarms Xi,” Zi Yang says. “Xi is very afraid of his subordinates getting too powerful.”

Orion highlights the scale of the campaign: “In total, during his years in office, about 200,000 people were purged. This shows that even those closest to him cannot be trusted, and therefore, he purges them.” For the international community – and particularly for US allies like Israel, which closely monitor global stability – the burning question is how this affects a potential invasion of Taiwan.

In Taiwan, senior officials say that 2027 is a year to watch. This aligns with US intelligence assessments that Xi has ordered the military to be ready for action by that date. But does a purged military fight better?

A purged command structure is a compliant one. However, Orion warns of the operational costs: “When a military is undergoing a turnover of senior officers, this is not the height of stability needed to launch an operation with such high risks.”

Essentially, Xi may be buying political loyalty at the cost of military competence.

Johnson, however, pushes back against the idea that the purges signal an imminent war. He remains skeptical about the “invasion next year” theories derived from reading political tea leaves.

“I still assume that the leadership in Beijing is rational,” Johnson argues. “And if I assume that they’re rational, then it would not make sense to invade right away because time is on Beijing’s side militarily.”

Johnson points out that while the United States is distracted by conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, China is methodically building aircraft carriers and expanding its arsenal. He also notes that the domestic political situation in Taiwan – where the pro-independence leadership is unpopular – may eventually break in Beijing’s favor without a single shot being fired.

“It makes sense to wait and see how that plays out, meanwhile building up the military and not pushing a hasty invasion,” Johnson concludes. “I don’t think the purges are directly related to some sort of impending military adventure.”

WHETHER DRIVEN by paranoia or confidence, Xi Jinping has fundamentally altered the DNA of the Chinese Communist Party. By abolishing term limits and refusing to groom a successor, he has centralized power to a degree not seen since Mao Zedong.

“I think it’s all about President Xi’s desire to remain leader for life in China,” says Wilder. “He has given no indication of who a successor might be because he doesn’t want one. A successor would mean he becomes a lame duck.”

This isolation creates a paradox. The system appears stable because there are no rivals. “He doesn’t have any clear heir apparent, and he doesn’t have any real rivals inside the system,” Johnson observes.

But this superficial stability masks a deep, existential risk for the regime.

“If one day he dies – as all people do – or becomes incapacitated, there will be no clear person to succeed him,” Johnson warns. “And I think this is the problem facing China in the next five years or so.”

For now, the empty seats in the Great Hall of the People serve as a silent warning to the Chinese elite. The applause may still be loud, but everyone knows that in Xi Jinping’s China, the distance between the inner circle and a prison cell has never been shorter.

In the opaque world of Beijing politics, the only certainty is that the next purge is only a matter of time.

Amichai Stein

Source: https://www.jpost.com/international/article-886386

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The Bigger Problem that the Tim Walz NGO Scandal Has Exposed - Edward Woodson

 

by Edward Woodson

Minnesota’s nonprofit scandal isn’t an outlier but a warning: unaccountable institutions drift from those they claim to serve while taxpayers and members pay the price.

 

The Minnesota nonprofit fraud scandal, now expected to cost taxpayers more than $9 billion, is being dismissed by many as an isolated failure. However, this is far from the case, and writing it off as such would be a colossal mistake.

What it actually revealed is a broader problem in the Swamp—that institutions claiming to represent others often operate with little accountability and then quietly drift away from the very people who are footing the bill.

In Minnesota, nonprofit organizations became the perfect vehicle for abuse—shielded from scrutiny, politically protected, and flush with public money. However, in Washington, trade associations operate in largely the same way. They collect millions in dues from American businesses while increasingly choosing to serve their own leadership’s personal and political interests instead of those of their dues-paying members.

Their members only care about being able to deliver good-paying jobs to their employees and securing a more favorable regulatory climate so they can deliver lower-priced goods for the American people; however, you’d never know that if you looked at the public policy priorities of their association leadership officials, who seem more interested in fitting in at woke radical leftist cocktail parties.

Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, has repeatedly broken with Republicans by sharply criticizing Donald Trump, including after January 6, when he called Trump’s actions “mob rule,” urged Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, and faulted the administration’s handling of COVID-19. Despite that record, Timmons later congratulated Trump on his November 2024 victory and suggested they should “work together like we did before.” At the same time, Timmons praised and partnered with Joe Biden, backing the administration’s COVID-19 vaccine campaign and publicly supporting the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the CHIPS and Science Act. In 2022, he also donated to Adam Kinzinger’s leadership PAC just days after Kinzinger was censured by the Republican Party.

If a presidency was truly so dangerous five years ago that it was deemed incompatible with democracy itself, it is fair to ask how the same association leadership can now claim alignment and cooperation without any explanation, accountability, or evident change in approach. That kind of abrupt pivot invites skepticism from dues-paying manufacturers who expect their trade groups to be guided by member interests, not political positioning or reputational hedging.

The problem is compounded by a reliance on press releases in place of real relationships. Press releases don’t move policy—relationships do. Manufacturers don’t pay dues for moral posturing, elite signaling, or ceremonial access; they pay for results. When leadership spends years attacking an administration only to reverse course once the election is settled—substituting optics for engagement—it raises a fundamental question about who the organization is really serving.

Then there’s the Investment Company Institute, which represents asset managers navigating an intensely regulated environment. Its CEO, Eric Pan, earns roughly $3 million a year while publicly aligning himself with progressive causes and donating to Democratic candidates—even those running against Republican senators who oversee key committees affecting pensions and financial markets.

Under Pan’s control, the ICI went head over heels for Biden’s climate change agenda, endorsing a proposed rule by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that would push to mandate climate-impact disclosures. Critics warned the proposals blurred the line between securities regulation and social policymaking, forcing companies to engage in politically charged “compelled speech” untethered from core financial risk.  They cautioned that the rules would impose significant compliance costs, expose firms to heightened litigation risk, and overwhelm investors with data of dubious relevance. This makes sense from the standpoint that Pan brags about teaching his students at Columbia Law a “rich, progressive curriculum.” This kind of political posturing is putting the organization’s member companies at odds with the very policymakers who shape their regulatory futures.

Even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, long seen as the flagship advocate for free enterprise, lost credibility with many small businesses during the Biden years. While its executives collected multi-million-dollar compensation packages, the Chamber backed COVID mandates, massive spending bills, and climate policies that drove up costs for employers and workers alike.

When small businesses were struggling to stay afloat, the Chamber’s Washington insiders were doing just fine. The CEO, Suzanne Clark, earned $6.6 million, and the Chief Policy Officer, Neil Bradley, earned nearly $2 million.

For small businesses writing checks every year, what are those association dues actually buying? Better free-market conservative policies? Measurable regulatory relief? Or just access, prestige, and fat salaries for executives whose priorities no longer align with the firms they represent?

Trade associations should exist to fight relentlessly for free enterprise—predictable rules, property rights, competition, and growth. When they become tollbooths to Washington rather than shields against it, they fail in their mission.

The Minnesota NGO scandal should serve as a textbook warning of how institutions that operate without accountability eventually stop serving their stated purpose. Businesses, especially small businesses, should demand better.

Any group, whether in Minnesota or in DC, that claims to represent the American people should be able to answer three basic questions:

• Who do you actually speak for?
• What concrete wins have you delivered in the last 12 months for the people you serve?
• Whose interests come first—your members or your executives?

Right now, too many are not able to answer these basic questions.

Ronald Reagan once said, “We must be willing to pay for excellence in government or risk a government run only by people of wealth or by those beholden to special interests.”

If we don’t demand the same for the groups that represent us at the government negotiating table, then those same negative consequences will arise. And that’s in no one’s interest.

It’s time we demand better.

***

Edward Woodson is a conservative talk radio host. He guest hosts for Laura Ingraham.

Source: https://amgreatness.com/2026/02/13/the-bigger-problem-that-the-tim-walz-ngo-scandal-has-exposed/

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‘Bunch of terrorists trying to get in, kill us,’ organizers of Haverford event say - Jessica Russak-Hoffman

 

by Jessica Russak-Hoffman

A professor, who has worked at the Philadelphia-area school for 19 years, told JNS he can’t believe it “has turned against the Jewish community in such a horrendous way.”

 

Haverford College outside Philadelphia. Photo by Carin M. Smilk.

Organizers of an Israeli journalist’s lecture at Haverford College, a private liberal arts school in the Philadelphia-area suburbs, talked to the campus safety department before the Feb. 1 event.

“We tried to coordinate security, but we did not expect that what transpired was actually going to happen,” Barak Mendelsohn, a political science professor at the school and an organizer of the event, told JNS.

A masked protester clad in a keffiyeh disrupted Haviv Rettig Gur’s talk on “roots, return and reality: Jews, Israel and the myth of settler colonialism,” which drew students, professors and local community members.

Video footage that circulated on social media appeared to show the anti-Israel, female protester shouting over the speaker using a bullhorn and yelling about the “Israel occupation forces” killing children.

“When Gaza is burned, you will all burn, too,” the protester said.

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In footage that Haverford alumnus Kevin Foley, an organizer of the event, shared with JNS, the protester shouts into a man’s face through a horn. After the latter pushes the bullhorn aside, the protester appears to throw it at him.

Mendelsohn told JNS that the school has been “tainted with antisemitism” for more than two years. 

“I just can’t believe that the college in which I’ve worked now for 19 years has turned against the Jewish community in such a horrendous way,” he said.

Of the interruption, Rettig Gur told the audience that the “howling cry of a lonely, uneducated human” crossed “our field of experience and evaporated.” 

But organizers told JNS that people were afraid of masked protesters, whose friends let them in via a side entrance and whose disruption, organizers said, campus security didn’t address.

When Mendelsohn first saw the group, he thought that there was “a bunch of terrorists trying to get in and kill us,” he told JNS.

‘I was on edge’

Jerry Fayette, campus safety director, wrote in a Feb. 4 letter that JNS viewed that the college launched an investigation after witnesses observed “clear violations of Haverford’s policy on expressive freedom and responsibility.”

The probe identified “both the individual who used the bullhorn and an audience member who initiated physical contact” with that person, and neither was part of the Haverford community, Fayette wrote.

“As we conclude our investigation, the persons in question will be considered persona non grata, which bans them from our campus indefinitely,” he wrote. “If they are found to be on Haverford’s campus, their presence will be considered trespassing, and the college will contact local police.”

Foley shared an anonymous eyewitness statement submitted to the college with JNS.

“I got to the auditorium, went through a sign-in process where they check your name,” the witness stated. “Didn’t see any security whatsoever, nor protesters for that matter, and sat in the back.”

“Suddenly a person, fully covered in a keffiyeh tied around their head and covering their face, walked behind me and opened the emergency exit, and snuck in a group of people, maybe five, all wearing the same full face coverings,” the witness wrote.

The group stood in front of the emergency exit, and when the event was about to begin, “the main door opened and a bigger group of people, mostly all wearing the exact same coverings so that you couldn’t see their faces, barged in,” per the witness. “Maybe about 10 people.”

“From that point on, I was on edge,” the witness wrote. “I was worried for my physical safety.”

“No one knew who they were or whether they were armed,” the witness added. “Imagine fully masked people entering through emergency exits, hiding objects under their coats, blocking basic points of egress. It is reasonable to fear for your physical safety.”

The eyewitness was disappointed that the college’s campus safety letter claimed that the audience member who pushed away the bullhorn was part of the problem.

A Haverford spokesman told JNS that the college is reviewing the incident.

“There have also been reports about individuals possibly bypassing check-in via an alternate door, among other behaviors, that might have violated our policies and core values,” the school said. “The investigation remains ongoing. 

“As our investigations into this matter continue, we will not hesitate to take further action to hold individuals accountable,” it said. It added that it will be “strengthening its event and space use policies.”

The college received a “failing grade” from the Anti-Defamation League for campus antisemitism in 2025, and its president, Wendy Raymond, grilled by a House panel at a hearing on Jew-hatred, intends to step down next year.

Haverford was sued in U.S. district court in 2024 for alleged inaction when it came to protecting Jews on campus, and in 2025, the U.S. Education Department opened a probe of the school for allegedly violating federal civil rights law for failing to address harassment against Jewish and Israeli students on campus. 

Jessica Russak-Hoffman

Source: https://www.jns.org/bunch-of-terrorists-trying-to-get-in-kill-us-organizers-of-haverford-event-say/

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