Peloni:  There would be no greater mistake than granting Ukraine any security guarantees, which would only be manipulated by Ukraine to guarantee war with Russia by any nation so misguided as to align their own security with the failed state of Ukraine which has no greater interest than involving the US in a direct war with Russia.

Stephen Bryen | Weapons & Strategy | Dec 31, 2025

Image via AI

Vladimir Putin’s residence in Novgorod, known as Dolgiye Borody, also known as Valdai and Uzhin, was attacked by waves of drones on December 29th. We know this from an official statement from Sergey Lavrov, and from President Trump who was informed by Putin himself in a telephone call. The Russian Defense Ministry subsequently also released a report after a Duma deputy provided preliminary details of the attack.

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By Hugh Fitzgerald | Dec 30, 2025

The people of Iran are protesting in the streets, demanding to end the Islamic regime.

They call for Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi to lead a new free Iran.

I support their noble fight for freedom. Israel stands with them. pic.twitter.com/RD8qIPXIdE

— Hananya Naftali (@HananyaNaftali) December 29, 2025

In 1979, when the Ayatollah Khomeini took power in Iran and the Islamic Republic began, one American dollar was worth 70 Iranian riyals. Today one American dollar is worth 1,250,000 riyals. Such is the state of Iran’s collapsing economy. More than 40% of Iranians now live below the poverty line. 60% of Iranian university graduates cannot find jobs. There are electricity blackouts across the country, because the drought has caused many hydroelectric dams to be rendered inoperative, no longer producing electricity. There is now talk of moving all ten million residents of Tehran out of the city, to places where more water is available.

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Peloni:  Hamas ignores the demand that it disband or disarm because this demands is itself being ignored by all those who agreed to this stipulated demand in the Trump 20 Point plan.  Dubowitz indicates that Hamas is triumphalist, and the honest question is why they would not?  They planned to prevent Saudi Arabia from entering into normalization with Israel, while forcing the other regional terror forces into a war against Israel.  More than two years later, these goals have been met, so too has the Europeans recognizing a Pal state that has no basis in law, practicality or possibility.  Additionally, the US persists in demanding that Israel forego any stated application of sovereignty over lands which are historically and legally her own indigenous lands.  Where is the victory, decisive or not, over Hamas as it sits unopposed in half of Gaza with its foremost allies in Turkey and Qatar tightly embraced by the Trump administration?

Mark Dubowitz | Dec 30, 2025

Hamas has released an updated version of its apologia for its October 7, 2023, murder of 1,200 people in Israel in a renewed effort to rally Palestinians and Israel’s opponents abroad. The glossy manifesto — published online in English and Arabic — remains saturated with lies, moral inversion, and florid prose. It is unlikely to broaden Hamas’s appeal. But it does reveal something more important: a growing confidence that Hamas can retain power in Gaza, with international backing, as the ceasefire hardens into stasis.

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Peloni:  A very informative monologue by Monsur Ashkar, an Israeli Druze journalist.  He discusses the rising tension between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, in Yemen and in Syria.

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Peloni

Mark talks about the converging efforts of the fusion of Marxist Islamists on the Left with the Neo Fascist movement on the Right to try to re-write the history of WWII, who were and were not the villains in that conflict.  As the effort of these twin factions of disinformation have tried to erase the Holocaust, and to ignore the October 7 Massacre, it is important that such fundamental knowledge of history, which is unfortunately missing in many young people today, is shared in such a way as to establish fact from fantasy.

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By Marziyeh Amirizadeh

Iranian riots in last week of December 2025. Screengrab via Youtube

Unprecedented protests are taking place across Iran, both in terms of the number of people participating, and number of cities in which the protests are taking place. Countless videos have documented Iranians protesting. And it’s growing. The reason is the compounded suffering to which Iranians have been subject under the Islamic republic, and which hopefully are at the breaking point.

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Peloni:  Recall that Israel has all the authority required to exercise its ability to deal with Hamas under the UN resolution on this subject, yet in this press conference it is clarified that others will be responsible for doing this.  Hamas has stood in violation of that UNSR since it was adopted, and Israel has stayed its hand to allow the feckless Arabs to demonstrate their lack of resolve and their true intent to preserve Hamas in power rather than to depose them under any terms.  Referring back to the interview with Amb. Ettinger posted earlier, and recalling that Netanyahu came to Florida to negotiate with Trump, the question arises as to what the negotiations were truly about.  Interestingly, in the press conference below Trump is seen to finally add his voice of acknowledging and threatening Iran’s moves to rebuild its nuclear program.  In that same press conference, Trump recalls that the Arabs agreed to deal with Hamas and seems to suggests/insist that they will do so as agreed.  So, was this the deal struck at Mar a Lago, ie Trump’s support for Israel’s position on Iran for more time in dealing with Hamas?  Well, in part, yes, I think it was.

FDD | Dec 29, 2025

Click Photo to See Trump-Netanyahu Press Conference

Latest Developments

• Trump Promises ‘Hell’ if Hamas Doesn’t Disarm: President Donald Trump warned Hamas would be given a “very short period of time to disarm” as he prepares to launch the second phase of his peace plan for Gaza. “If they don’t disarm as they agreed to do … then there’ll be hell to pay for them,” Trump declared in a joint appearance with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Earlier, Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida vowed that the Iran-backed terrorist group would not disarm.

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Peloni:  Amb. Yoram Ettinger provides an important context for Netanyahu’s trip to Mar A Lago.  Ettinger notes that the overwhelming defeat of Iranian hegemony in the Middle East has been simultaneously a strategic defeat for China in the region which has led to China doubling down on its support of Iran by reaming them and providing them with advanced warfare tools.  He goes on to explain that negotiating with Iran advances Iranian goals of delaying defeat while rebuilding and establishing new heights of its warfare capabilities.  This is the message needed to be heard in Washington, and in Florida too.

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Avi Abelow | X

Israel stands today at five decisive junctions: Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and the future structure of the U.S.–Israel alliance. Each one demands clarity, not slogans.

First: Gaza.

Israel cannot move forward while Hamas still exists, armed, empowered, and dreaming of the next October 7. Hamas and Islamic Jihad are not “governing bodies.” They are jihadist armies. There can be no Phase B, no “day after,” without the return of the body of Ran Gueli z”l and the complete disarmament of Hamas. Anything less is surrender disguised as diplomacy. If Hamas refuses, Israel must retain full freedom of action to finish the job.

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by Daniel Greenfield | Dec 29, 2025

Steven Spielberg.  Photo by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America – Steven Spielberg, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikipedia

“Let Gaza live,” a mob of anti-Israel protesters screamed, brandishing signs falsely accusing the Jewish State of “ethnic cleansing”, “starving Gaza” and genocide while illegally blocking traffic outside the Israeli consulate in Midtown Manhattan.

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Peloni:  Wide spread reports of riots taking place in Iran have been announced in the recent hours, with the Israel’s Mossad announcing on its Persian-language X account calling for Iranians to take to the streets and claiming to be offering “active, on-the-ground support rather than symbolic backing” .

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Peloni:  The most fundamental of issues are what remains to be decided, and it remains to be demonstrated that Zelensky can push thru any compromise on what is being discussed, even as he continues to lose more and more ground on the battlefield every day.  Importantly, a report was released today indicating that the Ukrainians attacked one of Putin’s residences.  These are the gambits which will be pushed forward as demands for a peace become more and more required by Washington.

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By Christine Douglass-Williams | Dec 29, 2025

 Turkey’s alliance with Iran is to “defend the interests of the Islamic world in international forums,” while the West continues to turn a blind eye to the true nature of Turkey, which is still a member of NATO. A top Israeli strategist described Turkey as the “new Iran,” for good reason.

On July 2025, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf met with Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Numan Kurtulmus on the sidelines of the Sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament in Geneva, calling on Islamic and regional countries, especially Iran and Turkey, to unite and remain strong in opposition to the United States and Israel.

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By Sha’i ben-Tekoa

Image via X

Did you see during Christmas week in New York City the Times Square electronic billboard proclaiming. “Jesus is Palestinian”?

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History shows how quickly allies can turn into adversaries.

Moshe Phillips | Dec 29, 2025

27th Adir F35 arrival at Nevatim, August 2020. Photo by U.S. Embassy Jerusalem – DSC_0863SM, CC BY 2.0, Wikipedia

When Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, tweeted on Dec. 9 that America “is in ongoing discussions with Turkey regarding their desire to rejoin the F-35 program,” it should have sent chills through any American who cares about the future of the Middle East. An F-35 stealth fighter jet taking off from Turkey could reach Israeli airspace in about 15 minutes. Cyprus is even closer, and Turkey doesn’t even recognize the Republic of Cyprus.

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