For now, links to four reports: from the Associated Press; Reuters, and National Public Radio; others or at least headlines are accessible by clicking on their names or initials. (Scroll down for IRAN 7-8-26.) — MCM

This entry will be about as brief as yesterday’s in this category, for lack of time. (Scroll down for today’s MEDIA, IRAN, WEST BANK, LEBANON, and UKRAINE, and for (9/11 TRUTH 7-7-26.) — MCM

–   –   –

Craig Unger

As far as I know, author and journalist Craig Unger is not known as a “9/11 truther.” His name appears in the MEDIA 7-8-26 just below, in a sentence about a 2025 article in the Milwaukee Independent citing his work alleging that Donald Trump has been a knowing, covert Russian asset over the years.

Readers are invited to research Unger as some of his many books may provide some clues to current events. One that could provide relevant context for the murderous events of Sept. 11, 2001, is House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World’s Two Most Powerful Dynasties (2004).

One that may pertain, in spades, to the subject of today’s MEDIA entry (just below) is House of Trump, House of Putin: The Untold Story of Donald Trump and the Russian Mafia (2018). I’ve just borrowed it from Pittsfield’s public library, the Berkshire Athenaeum.

.

Questions, questions. An entry with some links. (Scroll up or down for today’s 9/11 TRUTH. IRAN, WEST BANK, LEBANON and UKRAINE, and for MEDIA 7-5-26.) — MCM

–   –   –

Does this part fit in the puzzle? by Mark Channing Miller

“Is a puzzlement!” the king exclaims in song in Roger & Hammerstein’s “The King and I.”*

I write today concerning both a blast from the past (early 2025) and a blast from further past (the late 1980s). It initially came courtesy of Facebook and the Kyiv Post in February 2025. When I saw the Post’s headline then, I may not have even read the article, taking it for Ukrainian wartime propaganda. If I did read it, I didn’t link to it for this website as at the time it didn’t seem relevant to the war in Ukraine.

But the Kyiv Post article, by Stash Luczkiw, may explain the behavior on the world stage of one Donald J. Trump, a New York City businessman in the late 1980s — now Washington-based and also president of the United States in his second term.

Here it is:

FROM FEB. 22, 2026  ‘Trump recruited as Moscow asset,’ says ex-KGB spy chief, by Stash Luczkiw | Kyiv Post  U.S. President Donald Trump was groomed 37 years ago as a potential Soviet asset, according to Alnur Mussayev, the former head of Kazakhstan’s security services, who had been a KGB officer in Moscow at the time. READ MORE . . .

I’m putting together this post under “Media, 7-8-25,” although it concerns daily entries on this website it which I try to shed light on UKRAINE, IRAN, GAZA, LEBANON, WEST BANK, and (perhaps especially) ALL OF IT.

It belongs at least under MEDIA because Luczkiw is or was an editor for the Kyiv Post — a digital daily operating under martial law in Ukraine — and also because it has not received, to my knowledge, much treatment one way or another in major U.S. newspapers or broadcasting operations.

HERE, however, is a link to a March 2025 article in the Milwaukee Independent citing the work of journalist and author Craig Unger. (The Milwaukee Independent explains itself HERE; it is apparently considered so minor, though, that it has escaped Wikipedia’s attention.)

And HERE is an article from Information War Newsletter by Hase Fiero, which appeared the day before Luczkiw’s in the Kyiv Post. (I came across both the Independent’s article and Fiero’s only this afternoon.)

I did eventually post a link on this website months after it appeared, perhaps in the summer or fall of 2025, probably in a UKRAINE entry, because President Trump’s behavior seemed to square with it. Anyone with endless hours to spare can scroll down for it.

Where was the New York Times? Where was the Washington Post? Where are they and their ilk on a lot of things?

–   –   –

* Thanks to whoever wrote the following. “In this powerful soliloquy, the King grapples with what he knows and does not know. Faced with teaching a son whose inherited beliefs are challenged by European ideas, he struggles to find a way to guide his son confidently toward the truth.”

Links to seven-plus reports: from the Associated Press, National Public Radio, Reuters, the Cradle, Middle East Eye, and Middle East Monitor; others or at least headlines are accessible by clicking on their names or initials. (Scroll up or down for today’s MEDIA, WEST BANK, LEBANON and UKRAINE, and down for IRAN 7-7-26.) — MCM

–   –   –

A link to a report from the Cradle; others are accessible by clicking on its name. (Scroll up or down for today’s MEDIA, IRAN, LEBANON and UKRAINE, and down for WEST BANK 7-7-26.) — MCM

–   –   –

Illegal Israeli outposts control one-fifth of occupied West Bank. From the Cradle. Israel’s illegal settler outposts now dominate nearly one-fifth of the occupied West Bank, two Israeli NGOs said on Tuesday, describing the current situation as an acceleration of de facto annexation plans. READ MORE . . .

.

A link to a report from the Cradle; others are accessible by clicking on its name. (Scroll up or down for today’s MEDIA, IRAN, WEST BANK and UKRAINE, and down for LEBANON 7-6-26.)

–   –   –

Israel demands Beirut bar ‘unacceptable’ Lebanese army officers from deploying south. From the Cradle. Israeli state broadcaster Kan reported on Monday that Tel Aviv has handed Lebanese authorities a list containing the names of several senior officers in the Lebanese Armed Forces whose deployment in southern Lebanon it rejects. READ MORE . . .

.

A link to a report from the Associated Press; others are accessible by clicking on its name or initials. (Scroll up for today’s MEDIA, IRAN, WEST BANK and LEBANON, and down for UKRAINE 7-7-26. — MCM

–   –   –

A link to a report from the International Middle East Media Center; others are accessible by clicking on its name or initials. (Scroll down for GAZA, UKRAINE, IRAN and 9/11 TRUTH, and for WEST BANK 7-5-26.) — MCM

–   –   –

Violations in West Bank yesterday. From IMEMC. The occupied West Bank witnessed a new wave of Israeli military violations on Monday, with invasions, home break‑ins, abductions, assaults, and the firing of live rounds reported across multiple districts from Hebron in the south to Jenin in the north, alongside additional incidents in occupied Jerusalem. READ MORE . . .

.

Links to six reports: from Anadolu Agency, Reuters, Kyiv Post, Tass, and the Kyiv Independent; others are accessible by clicking on their names. (Scroll up or down for WEST BANK, GAZA, IRAN and 9/11 TRUTH, and down for UKRAINE 7-6-26.) — MCM

–   –   –

Ukraine says ready for ‘unconditional ceasefire’ with Russia. From Anadolu. ANKARA / ISTANBUL — Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said today Kyiv is ready for an “unconditional ceasefire” with Russia but stressed that ending the war would not be realistic without U.S. involvement in the peace process. READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

Russia’s largest oil refinery halts production after drone attack, sources say. From Reuters. Russia‘s largest oil refinery in the Omsk region of western Siberia has halted operations following a Ukrainian drone attack, two industry sources said today. Monday’s strike on the refinery was one of Ukraine’s longest-range attacks of the conflict. READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

Sleepless Ukrainians wonder when Russia will strike next, by Sergiy Karazy | Reuters  KYIV — Russia has stepped up its air war on Ukraine in recent months as its ground forces have stumbled on the battlefield and suffered from Ukrainian attacks on its military logistics and oil industry. READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

Ukraine’s frontline troops say Kremlin is lying about capture of battleground city Kostyantynivka, by Stefan Korshak | Kyiv Post  Ukrainian troops deployed to Kostyantynivka, the fighting front’s hottest sector, today rejected a Kremlin narrative that Russia had conquered the city, with combatants claiming that Russian troops forced to attack the strategic road and logistics hub aren’t so much advancing as being hunted down and killed by drones. READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

Russian troops liberate Petro-Ivanovka community in Kharkov region over past day. From Tass. MOSCOW — Russian troops liberated the community of Petro-Ivanovka in the Kharkov Region over the past 24 hours in the special military operation in Ukraine, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported. READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

‘Europe needs its own effective anti-ballistic system,’ Zelensky tells NATO summit, by Asami Terajima | The Kyiv Independent  President Volodymyr Zelensky repeated Europe’s need for its own “effective anti-ballistic systems and missiles” at the NATO Summit in Ankara today, warning that ballistic missiles remain “Russia’s last major advantage.” READ MORE . . .

.