Links to an article from Middle East Eye, and to reports from the Associated Press and National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials. (Scroll up or down for today’s UKRAINE, ALL OF IT, LEBANON and IRAN, and down for GAZA 8-9-26.) — MCM

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Why the Mecca Accord is a necessary show of force, by David Hearst | Middle East Eye  It will be three years in October since Israel started its genocide in Gaza, a war crime it has repeated in the Occupied West Bank, South Lebanon, and Iran. For much of that time, Turkey and the Arab world held up their hands in horror but did nothing. Click HERE for article and two videos.

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A link to an article from Consortium News; others are accessible by clicking on its name. (Scroll up or down this date’s IRAN, UKRAINE, GAZA and LEBANON, and down for ALL OF IT 8-9-26.) — MCM

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FROM AUG. 7  A certain schizophrenia, by Patrick Lawrence | Special to Consortium News  Some notes on the D.S.A. phenomenon. READ MORE . . .

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Links to reports from Middle East Eye and L’Orient-le Jour; others are accessible by clicking on its name. (Scroll up for this date’s IRAN, UKRAINE, GAZA and ALL OF IT, and down for LEBANON 8-8-26.) — MCM

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Lebanon will not take part in next talks with Israel unless demands met: report. From Middle East Eye. Lebanon will not take part in the next round of talks with Israel that are scheduled for early September unless its conditions are met, L’Orient-Le Jour reported citing a source close to the Lebanese delegation’s leadership. READ MORE . . .

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FROM AUG. 9   Israeli forces detonate homes in Zawtar Sharqieh, set fires in Bekaa as south Lebanon escalation continues. From L’Orient-le Jour. SOUTH LEBANON — Israeli forces carried out detonations in Zawtar Sharqieh and several other southern towns Saturday night into Sunday, while Israeli drones dropped incendiary materials that sparked widespread fires across forested areas and mountains in the western Bekaa. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for same report in French, and HERE for at least headlines of others.

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A link to a report from National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on its name or initials. (Scroll down for today’s IRAN, UKRAINE, YEMEN, ALL OF IT and MEDIA, and for GAZA 8-6-26.) — MCM

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Netanyahu rejects Trump’s Gaza Peace Plan, demands Hamas disarm first, by Rebecca Rosman | NPR  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected President Trump’s 15-point peace plan for Gaza, saying Israeli forces will not withdraw from Gaza until Hamas is “genuinely disarmed.” READ MORE . . .

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Links to two analyses: from the Associated Press and National Public Radio; other published material is accessible by clicking on their names or initials. (Scroll up or down today’s GAZA, UKRAINE, YEMEN, ALL OF IT and MEDIA, and down for IRAN 8-8-26.) — MCM

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Iran’s leaders think they have Trump cornered, but their strategy carries great risks, by Joseph Krauss and Amir-Hussein Radjy | AP  The Strait of Hormuz is, by some accounts, named for a Zoroastrian deity destined to emerge victorious after a 9,000-year standoff with an adversary. Iran’s leaders feel their own victory is at hand and won’t require the same epic patience. Click HERE for report with photos. Click HERE for same AP report in Spanish, and HERE for others.

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Haunted by Hoover, Trump searches for an endgame in Iran, by Franco Ordoñez | NPR  President Trump has acknowledged seeking an agreement to end the Iran war in hopes of escaping comparisons to former President Herbert Hoover, the Republican whose name became synonymous with . . . READ MORE . . .

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Links to two reports from the Associated Press; others are accessible by clicking on its name or initials. (Scroll up or down for today’s GAZA, YEMEN, ALL OF IT and MEDIA, and down for UKRAINE 8-8-26.) — MCM

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Russia, Ukraine exchange overnight strikes that leave 7 dead, many injured. From AP. KYIV — Russia and Ukraine exchanged strikes overnight that killed civilians and injured many others on both sides, local authorities reported. Large-scale Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities have become . . .  Click HERE for report with several photos. Click HERE for same AP report in Spanish, and HERE for others.

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FROM AUG. 8  Ukraine honors its ‘collector of souls’ volunteer killed while recovering the war dead, by Volodymyr Yurchuk and Efrem Lukatsky | AP  KYIV — Ukraine paid tribute on Saturday to Oleksiy Yukov, a volunteer who spent more than two decades recovering bodies of civilians and soldiers — many of them Russian — killed by war. He was 40. An Orthodox Christian service was held at . . .  Click HERE for report including photos. Click HERE for same AP report in Spanish, and HERE for others.

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A link to a report from the Associated Press; others are accessible by clicking on its name or initials. (Scroll up or down for today’s GAZA, UKRAINE, ALL OF IT and MEDIA, and down for YEMEN 8-8-26.) — MCM

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Houthis claim attacks on Saudi oil facility and Yemeni port, and other Mideast news. From AP. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels struck a government-held port on the country’s Red Sea coast today, killing several people and deepening fears over threats to strategic Middle East shipping routes and a potential return to civil war. They also said they attacked an oil facility in neighboring Saudi Arabia. Click HERE for report with video and photos. Click HERE for same AP report in Spanish, and HERE for others.

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A link to a discussion from Consortium News; other published material is accessible by clicking on its name or initials. (Scroll up or down for today’s GAZA, IRAN, UKRAINE, YEMEN and MEDIA, and down for ALL OF IT 8-8-26.) — MCM

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FROM AUG. 8  The World This Week. ‘Avoiding nuclear extinction.’ Joe Lauria of Consortium News talks with former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer and former United Nations weapons inspector Scott Ritter and economics Professor Rick Wolff, emeritus of the University of Massachusetts. Wolff traces an evolution of societal development since feudalism worldwide to a future of various socialisms. On the 81st anniversary of the Nagasaki bombing (Saturday), Ritter sees ignorance of the perils of suicidal nuclear warfare and citizen apathy as the main enemies of life on Earth. Click HERE for video and for Lauria’s print introduction.

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While they were talking Saturday evening (see today’s ALL OF IT above) Consortium News editor Joe Lauria, former United Nations weapons inspector Scott Ritter and economist Richard Wolff — or at least two of them — considered three movies dealing with nuclear war: “Oppenheimer” (2023), “On the Beach” (1959) and “Failsafe” (1964).

HERE, HERE and HERE are links to reviews of the three.

(Scroll up for today’s GAZA, IRAN, UKRAINE, YEMEN and ALL OF IT , and down or click HERE for MEDIA 8-1-26.) — MCM

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A link to a report from National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on its name or initials. (Scroll down for today’s YEMEN, SYRIA, LEBANON, IRAN, ALL OF IT and UKRAINE so far; click HERE for SUDAN 7-14-26 or scroll down.) — MCM

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Warnings of new waves of atrocities in besieged Sudanese city. Reported by Kate Bartlett | NPR  Sudan has been mired in a brutal civil war between government forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for more than three years — causing the world’s largest humanitarian crisis and displacing millions of people. Click HERE to listen and read.

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