Written by Jason Ditz

Israeli General Tzvika Haimovitch, the head of Israel’s Aerial Defense Command, says the move is historic and proves US “strategic commitment.”

(ANTIWAR.COM) — For the first time ever, the United States has established a permanent military base in the nation of Israel, a small air defense base set up inside Israel’s Mashabim Air Base, in the nation’s Negev Desert.

Israeli Brig. Gen. Tzvika Haimovitch, the head of Israel’s Aerial Defense Command, said it was an historic move, and proves America’s “strategic commitment” to support Israel. He added it would allow for an improvement in interception operations.

The US, of course, has already made deep commitments to supporting Israel militarily into the future, irrespective of the costs. The establishment of the base, however, makes America’s commitment even more overt, and likely more long-lasting.

Though Brig. Gen. Haimovich declined to say if this meant US forces would participate in Israeli combat operations in the future, he said it was “much more significant than that” simply to have a presence of US soldiers in the country. Exact sizes aren’t clear, but estimates are that several dozen US soldiers will remain at the base.

By Jason Ditz / Republished with permission / ANTIWAR.COM /

IRAN DRONE NO MATCH FOR U.S. PATRIOT MISSILE AS ISRAEL BLOWS HEZBOLLAH AIRCRAFT OUT OF THE SKY

Written by Jason Ditz

Trump’s delegation to commanders means major escalation.

(ANTIWAR.COM) — Since taking office, President Trump has set two specific trends in US military operations across the Afghan and ISIS wars. He’s talked broad escalation, and he’s also granted an ever-growing level of autonomy to military commanders.

Unsurprisingly, this has had a broad impact on the way those wars have been fought, and at this point US airstrikes in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan are all at multi-year highs, with the former two seeing their highest level of strikes in the ISIS war, and Afghanistan at its highest since 2012.

Increased autonomy means less and less obstacles to attacks, and hence more and more attacks. The US seems to believe that more attacks would necessarily improved the wars, though in Afghanistan the situation has continued to worsen throughout this latest escalation.

Officials are claiming this has yielded “progress” in Iraq, though that appears to simply be a conclusion drawn because the US has progressive increased its airstrikes throughout a period in which Iraqi forces were already retaking territory.

By Jason Ditz / Republished with permission / ANTIWAR.COM

Search and rescue work continues across Mexico City in wake of massive earthquake

• By MARK OSBORNE

Search and rescue crews continued the grim task of digging out from Tuesday's massive earthquake in Mexico City as they clung to hope of finding survivors in the rubble two days later.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said late Wednesday night the priority in the country's capital was still on saving lives. Search and rescue crews are working across the city, with more than 50 people rescued from collapsed buildings, according to the president.

The death toll in the 7.1-magnitude earthquake was at least 245 people early Wednesday. Of those, 115 people died in Mexico City, according to Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera.

More than 1,900 people have received medical attention, Pena Nieto said.

Mexico has accepted technical and specialized assistance from many countries, including the United States, Spain, Israel, Japan and several Latin American countries.

"We are all one when it comes to saving a life or helping a victim," Pena Nieto said.

Much of the attention of rescuers in the city was focused on the Enrique Rebsamen school, an elementary and secondary school which collapsed during the quake. The bodies of 21 children and four adults were found in the wreckage of the school, where an ongoing rescue effort was underway overnight after a young girl was found alive -- trapped in the rubble -- Wednesday afternoon.

Rescuers were communicating with the girl and had dropped water bottles and oxygen to her as they worked to free her. The country's minister of education told ABC News that officials believe two other children are located nearby the girl, but they have not heard any definitive signs of life from them.

The Associated Press

Pena Nieto said 95 percent of electricity had been restored to the nearly 5 million customers who lost power due to the quake.

The president outlined a three-part plan Wednesday night for recovering from the quake. 1.) assisting those affected, 2.) an exhaustive assessment of the damage, and 3.) reconstruction starting with the removal of rubble and demolition of buildings.

ABC News' Joshua Hoyos and Matt Gutman contributed to this report.

Written by Jon Queally

“Reminder,” says one critic of president’s speech to UN General Assembly: “threatening to kill 25 million North Koreans because you don’t like their leader is threatening to commit genocide.”

(COMMONDREAMS) — For what he said — and also for what he refused to mention — President Donald Trump was lampooned by progressive critics as he delivered his first ever speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on Tuesday morning.

While castigating Iran and Venezuela as failed and destabilizing regimes and threatening to “totally destroy North Korea” if he thinks necessary, Trump acknowledged nothing about the misery sowed by U.S. foreign policy around the world.

For many critics, Trump’s war-mongering and bellicosity—though a bone to his domestic right-wing base—are enormously counter-productive in terms of reducing global threats and geopolitical tensions. As Vox reporter Matt Yglesias put it, “If you want to know why [North Korea] wants a nuclear deterrent, just read Trump’s speech.”

In a joint statement following Trump’s speech, MoveOn.org, CREDO Action, and Win Without War blasted the remarks:

Donald Trump’s first speech to the United Nations General Assembly today – and in particular, his remarks about North Korea – was nothing short of a complete failure of American leadership. Instead of focusing on efforts to peacefully resolve the crisis surrounding its nuclear program, Trump threatened to “totally destroy North Korea.”

It’s time for this charade to end: We need to stop this slow roll toward a catastrophic war, and work towards defusing the North Korean crisis diplomatically. Trump’s U.N. speech represents yet another reckless escalation in the ongoing tit-for-tat between North Korea and the United States that does nothing but edge us closer to nuclear war.

“The choice is clear,” the groups concluded, “either we let Trump’s incompetence and bellicosity drive us into a destructive conflict potentially more devastating than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined, or we can focus our efforts on negotiation. The United States and its allies and partners must immediately move toward easing tensions on the Korean peninsula diplomatically, and work toward ending this conflict peacefully. The fate of the region and the world depend on it.”

On social media, the president’s critics were swift with their appraisals and condemnation:

By Jon Queally / Creative Commons / Common Dreams / Report a typo

This article was chosen for republication based on the interest of our readers. Anti-Media republishes stories from a number of other independent news sources. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect Anti-Media editorial policy.