At least 165 schoolgirls were reportedly killed when their primary school in Minab, Iran, was struck during the U.S.-Israeli war. Most were between seven and twelve years old. Subsequent reporting has pointed towards an American strike apparently intended for a nearby military facility, although the United States has not formally accepted responsibility.

Now the USS Abraham Lincoln, after participating in American operations against Iran, is arriving at Laem Chabang with nearly 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard. Many are expected to spend their shore leave in Pattaya.

I find the sequence disgusting. Children are killed during a military campaign, and months later thousands of members of the military involved arrive in Thailand for their R&R, while the conversation here is about hotels, bars, prostitution and how much money they will spend.

Pattaya makes this particularly grotesque because we have seen this relationship before. During the Vietnam War, Thailand was an important base for the American war machine. U-Tapao hosted U.S. forces while American aircraft bombed Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. American troops committed documented rapes and gang rapes of Vietnamese women and girls, alongside massacres and other atrocities.

Meanwhile, Pattaya developed on the recreational side of that war. American servicemen came for R&R, and hotels, bars and commercial sex expanded around them. While Asian women elsewhere experienced American military power through bombing and sexual violence, Thai women became part of an economy providing American servicemen with sex and entertainment.

More than fifty years later, the historical echo is revolting. Another American military campaign leaves civilians dead, including more than 160 girls killed at school, and another American military force arrives in Thailand looking for a good time.

There are even Thai women online excitedly talking about finding American husbands among the arriving servicemen. If we can imagine these men as husbands and future fathers, perhaps we should imagine the Iranian parents who expected their daughters to come home from school.

And no, an aircraft carrier does not wage war by itself. American military power exists because people voluntarily operate its ships, maintain its aircraft, load its weapons and make the machinery function. Spreading responsibility across thousands of people does not make responsibility disappear.

Imagine 165 Thai schoolgirls being killed during a foreign military campaign. Then imagine thousands of servicemen from that military arriving somewhere else months later to drink, party and buy sex while local businesses celebrate the money they will bring. The obscenity would be obvious.

Pattaya prospered once before on the recreational end of an American war in which Asian women were bombed, raped and killed. More than fifty years later, it is preparing to play that role again.

165 schoolgirls are dead. The carrier sails on. Its sailors get their R&R. Pattaya gets their money. And once again, Asian women's bodies sit at both ends of the story.

I’m doing some research into Tony Blair and the Iraq War

One thing I’m struggling to understand js we now know that Iraq didn’t have the WMD stockpiles that were claimed at the time. But Saddam had previously pursued nuclear weapons and had used chemical weapons before, so was there not a reasonable concern at the time that he could be developing WMDs again?

Was there actually any credible evidence suggesting Iraq might have restarted a nuclear weapons programme, or was the intelligence much weaker than Blair/the government made it sound?

I’m also curious about the “better safe than sorry” argument. If there was genuine uncertainty about what Saddam was doing, would it have been reasonable to intervene rather than risk finding out years later that he actually had developed nuclear weapons? Or is that a dangerous standard because it could potentially justify invading almost any country suspected of developing weapons?

And legally, what specifically is the argument that made the Iraq War illegal? I’ve seen people mention the UN and the lack of another Security Council resolution, but I’d like to understand the actual reasoning behind it.

Again, I’m not trying to defend Blair or say the war was right I fully believe it wasn’t and resulted in thousands of unnecessary deaths.

The U.S.–Israeli war has caused massive environmental devastation, adding to the long history of American wars with toxic legacies.

Help get this guy out of power. He is a War Criminal

If you ever want a long version of NATO expansion, here is a 51 minute interview of Jack Matlock, former US ambassador to USSR, fluent in Russian.  IMO it was a well spent 51 minutes, but I play it on a second screen via roku and listen more than watch.

This guy was around during the Cuban missile crisis, negotiations to reunite Germany, the collapse of the USSR. He was US ambassador to USSR until months short of the collapse.

https://youtu.be/hwYOkzqQo3M Ambassador Jack Matlock: Why NATO Expansion Was a Historic Mistake | the Road to War in Ukraine

I posted this to r/IRstudies but it was taken down with lots of hostile comments. It seems those people have nothing to learn from this guy with 35 years in the US Foreign Service.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_F._Matlock_Jr.

The video was originally posted by The Sameer Project, a Palestinian-led aid organization operating in Gaza, which said it was filmed during a water distribution in Beit Lahia on August 26, 2026. The organization said children carrying water were fired toward by an Israeli quadcopter.

Germany is reportedly considering helping to fund Britain’s nuclear deterrent as Berlin examines closer integration with existing UK and French nuclear forces rather than developing an independent German arsenal.

Extraditions had been suspended due to their participation in peace talks under former President Petro, but new President Abelardo De la Espriella says they did not get results

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Kuwait signed an agreement on Thursday expanding military cooperation, with Islamabad to provide training, capacity building and border-management assistance to the Gulf state as regional security ties deepen amid the prolonged conflict involving Iran.

Sudan has lifted a two-year-old curfew and a previously declared state of emergency in Khartoum, the government’s Security Affairs Coordination Committee announced Thursday.

According to Sudanese media, the committee lifted a state of emergency first imposed in 2024, saying Khartoum residents would henceforth be allowed to move and work around the clock.

Kurdish-language rights and integration of women's units into security forces reportedly among terms of deal

Hey! Lucia from EUobserver here 👋 This is our own reporting, but there’s one thing from it I really wanted to bring to this community.

Europe wants to rearm. But what happens when that starts clashing with its environmental commitments?

In Norway, plans for what would be Europe’s largest explosives plant are facing resistance from activists trying to protect the already struggling Oslo fjord.

And that feels like the bigger story here: as Europe rapidly expands its defence industry, how much environmental compromise are we willing to accept in the name of security?

The speaker is Rabbi Yom Tov Glaser. The full video is titled “Rabbi Yom Tov Glaser | Tisha B'Av | CHAZAQ” on the Chazaq Organization YouTube channel. The section begins at approximately 57:20.

https://x.com/unusual_whales/status/2091347823052861715