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Sep 7, 2026 - World

Foreign policy expert Trita Parsi issued a dire warning Sunday that “all signs” were pointing to a “major escalation” in the U.S. war against Iran, one that “may very well” occur next month.“All signs point to a major escalation between the US, Iran and Israel. And it may very well be initiated by Tehran itself a week or two before the midterm elections,” Parsi wrote Sunday in a statement published on social media. “Iran’s pattern of behavior suggests preparation for that war, including how they are clearing the path for even more effective strikes against Israel.”The U.S. war against Iran has seen few direct exchanges of fire since July, a trend that was broken last week after Iran responded to a wave of U.S. strikes by attacking U.S. allies Jordan and Bahrain. On Saturday, the United States struck three Iranian oil tankers, an attack that Iran’s parliament speaker vowed Sunday to answer with a "more intense and more painful response,” CBS News reported.And yet, Iran’s response to U.S. attacks, as previously noted by Parsi, has been comparatively reserved, suggesting Tehran may be waiting for a more “optimal moment to strike back.” That moment, Parsi previously theorized, could be “two or three weeks before the congressional elections, maximizing the political damage to Trump.”Should a “major escalation” in war occur, Parsi also warned that it was likely Israel would play a larger direct role in the conflict.“While the US kept Israel out of the second round of war because Washington feared Israel would escalate beyond what the US believed was manageable, Trump may, in this third round, see himself far more aligned with Israel’s desire for a far larger war,” Parsi wrote.I just completed our eighth Q&A with subscribers, and I fear I left folks quite worried and depressed.But I was being honest: All signs point to a major escalation between the US, Iran and Israel. And it may very well be initiated by Tehran itself a week or two before the…— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) September 6, 2026

Sep 6, 2026 - World

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Sunday denied that the Trump administration was stealing Venezuela’s oil just one hour after boasting that the country is being “forced to work” with the United States.During a Sunday morning interview on ABC News, Wright was asked why he trusted interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez, given that she was previously the vice president of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was abducted by the American military earlier this year and brought to the US to face narco-terrorism, drug trafficking, and weapons charges.“We have a lot of leverage over Venezuela,” Wright explained. “We control the sale of oil outside of their country. So right now, they are forced to work in partnership with us, and they are working in partnership with us.”Shortly after, during an interview on Fox News, Wright grew indignant at the suggestion that the US was forcing Venezuela to give up its oil through threats of military force and other coercive measures.“This is a home run!” Wright said of the Trump administration’s arrangements with the Venezuelan government. “These senators saying we’re stealing their oil at gunpoint, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the more oil that’s produced in Venezuela, including with the deal with the US government, the more royalties and tax revenues go to the Venezuelan government and the Venezuelan people.”Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who was supportive of the US abducting Maduro, last week criticized the Trump administration for cutting a deal with what she said was still a corrupt and oppressive government in Caracas.“The wealth of our land does not belong to an illegitimate regime,” Machado said in a video posted on social media, “it belongs to the Venezuelan people.”In an analysis published last week, economist Paul Krugman accused the Trump administration of concocting a “plot to steal Venezuela’s oil,” which he described as equal parts “vile and deeply stupid.”The deal is vile, Krugman said, because it validates "everything the Latin American left has ever said about US imperialism” in the region.And it is simultaneously stupid, he argued, because the investments required to improve Venezuela’s oil infrastructure will be so great that its benefits are unlikely to materialize in the near future, if at all.“Venezuelan oil currently sells for around $70 a barrel on world markets,” Krugman wrote. “But as I said, getting that oil out will require huge investments in infrastructure. Nor does Venezuela oil come gushing out when you drill a well: As one expert put it, ‘it comes out of the ground with the consistency of cold peanut butter.’”

Sep 6, 2026 - World

Exclusive: US-controlled weapons corporations and forces have control or access to more than 100 facilities across the continent, which some analysts describe as a ‘colonisation’ of Australia’s military. Find a map of them hereUS military presence in Australia, mapped – videoWhy can the US access so many Australian military bases? – podcastUS military interests control or have access to more than 100 defence facilities on Australian soil, in what some analysts describe as a “saturation” – even a “colonisation” – of the Australian continent.New data compiled by the Nautilus Institute and published by Guardian Australia maps the extent of US militarisation. The US military controls 17 facilities on mainland Australia and has access to 75 more Australian-run military installations. US defence corporations have access to an additional 18.Gathering intelligence, accessing satellite data for targeting information and communications intercepts.Training, including for 2,500 marines on dry-season rotation in the Northern Territory.Pre-positioning warfighting assets such as Osprey aircraft.Logistics hubs holding weapons, munitions and fuel, stored in case of a war in the Pacific. Continue reading...

Sep 6, 2026 - World

A fawning member of President Donald Trump's cabinet on Sunday praised a higher power for his boss's character.Energy Secretary Chris Wright appeared on CNN Sunday morning amid an ongoing war in Iran that has reportedly cost thousands of lives and delivered a severe blow to the global economy with the subsequent and record-breaking spike in gas prices."Thank God for President Donald Trump's courage to take this on," Wright said. Wright argued Trump had acted bravely when he launched an attack on Iran in February without the consent of Congress.Political analyst David Pakman has called this an "optional war," waged in one of the world's largest oil-producing regions, noting it was not prompted by an invasion or attack on the U.S. But Wright argued Trump had protected Americans from the potential threat of an Iran armed with a nuclear weapon."He did not want to kick the can down the road," said Wright. "This is Iran without nuclear weapons — imagine Iran with nuclear weapons." This comment was met with criticism on social media who argued Americans had paid a high price to combat a hypothetical threat. "Iran did not attack us," wrote retired journalist Jack Polakoff. "Oil prices shot up after #Trump launched his unprovoked war. 18 US service members died because of him. It's costing taxpayers billions. We gain nothing."

Sep 6, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump’s unprecedented oil deal with Venezuela, of which the full details have yet to be made public, is already destined to “backfire” in a spectacular fashion, academic and economic expert Francisco Rodríguez argued on Saturday.“There is still a lot we don’t know about the deal,” Rodríguez wrote in a guest essay published Saturday in The New York Times. “Mr. Trump claims that it will come at no cost to American taxpayers and that it will serve to replenish the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is running at its lowest level since 1982.”Announced last week, the deal will see the United States be granted rights to Venezuela’s untapped oil fields for 100 years, with the U.S. government taking a direct stake in Venezuela's oil reserves — the single-largest proven oil reserves on earth — through a partnership with a private company run by controversial oil baron Alejandro Betancourt López.The deal, however, will likely fail to meet any of the Trump administration’s stated objectives, Rodríguez argued.“This is a country where no one should be surprised to see privatization fail. Nor is this deal likely to make a dent in global oil prices, which the Trump administration has presented as one of the key goals of the plan,” Rodríguez wrote.“It will take years for Venezuelan oil production to increase in a significant way — and even if it does, it will not keep pace with the projected growth in world demand over the next 25 years. Any oil that ends up in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve will not be sold in global markets.”The Trump administration has also claimed that the oil deal would help with Venezuela’s “democratic transition.” This goal too, Rodríguez argued, was destined to fail.“Over the past two decades, Venezuelans have lived through the destruction of what was once a prosperous economy and a vibrant democracy. The United States now has both the opportunity and the responsibility to help them rebuild their country,” Rodríguez wrote.“A hazy privatization process that reduces accountability, deepens inequalities and sidesteps institutional reform will not bring democratic change closer. It will push it further away.”