A link to an analysis from Jonathan-Cook.net via Consortium News; others are accessible by clicking on their names. (Scroll down for LEBANON, WEST BANK, IRAN and MEDIA, and for ALL OF IT 5-13-26.) — MCM

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Western democracies? by Jonathan Cook | Jonathan-Cook.net / Consortium News  Two pronounced — and inverse — trends in Western societies have long been observable, and yet they are rarely noticed or discussed. There is a reason for that. READ MORE . . .

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Links to reports from Middle East Monitor and the Cradle, and to analyses from Middle East Eye and Jonathan-Cook.net; others are accessible by clicking on their names. (Scroll up or down for ALL OF IT, WEST BANK, IRAN and MEDIA, and down for LEBANON 5-23-26.) — MCM

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FROM MAY 24  Israeli strikes kill 14, wound several in southern Lebanon in latest ceasefire violation. From Middle East Monitor. At least 14 people were killed and several others wounded in Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Sunday amid continued violations of an ongoing ceasefire, Anadolu reports. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for report from the Cradle.

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Those who resist Israel are now called internal enemies of the state, by Amal Saad | Middle East Eye  As with previous rounds of negotiations, the latest U.S.-brokered talks between Lebanon and Israel, held in Washington earlier this month, signalled the laundering of war through diplomacy. READ MORE . . .

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FROM MAY 1   The West’s bubble of illusion about Israel — and about itself — is finally being burst, by Jonathan Cook | Jonathan-Cook.net  For months, Israel has been blowing up village after village in south Lebanon. It is destroying Gaza’s water supplies, as it earlier did the tiny enclave’s hospitals and health system. It kills journalists and emergency crews in Gaza and Lebanon week after week, month after month, and it raises barely an eyebrow from the political and media class. READ MORE . . .

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Links to a report from Truthout via ScheerPost; others are accessible by clicking on its names. (Scroll up or down for for ALL OF IT, LEBANON, IRAN and MEDIA, and down for WEST BANK 5-23-26.) — MCM

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FROM MAY 23  Israel ramps up demolitions of Palestinian homes ahead of fall elections, by Theia Chatelle | Truthout / ScheerPost  East Jerusalem is days away from its largest forced displacement since 1967. READ MORE . . .

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Links to ELEVEN reports and analyses: from the Associated Press, Reuters, National Public Radio, and Jonathan-Cook.net; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials. (Scroll up or down for ALL OF IT, LEBANON, WEST BANK and MEDIA, and down for IRAN 5-24-26.) — MCM

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Iran’s top envoys discussing potential peace deal with Qatar prime minister, official says, by Michael Martina and Elwely Elwelly | Reuters  NEW DELHI / DUBAI — Iran’s top negotiator and its foreign minister were in Doha for talks with Qatar’s prime minister on a potential deal with the U.S. to end the three-month-old war, an official briefed on the visit said today, after Washington and Tehran played down hopes for an imminent breakthrough. READ MORE . . .

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What we know and don’t know about the emerging deal to end the Iran war, by Samy Magdy, Darlene Superville and Cara Anna | AP  CAIRO — A deal appears to be emerging between the United States and Iran to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz, and U.S. President Donald Trump over the weekend said it had been “largely negotiated.” It is not clear . . . READ MORE . . . Click HERE for same AP report in Spanish; and HERE for others.

Links to a report from the Associated Press and an appreciation from Counter-Currents; other published material is accessible by clicking on their names or initials. (Scroll up for ALL OF IT, LEBANON, WEST BANK and IRAN, and down for MEDIA 5-22-26.) — MCM

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FROM JAN. 16  David Lynch, visionary filmmaker behind ‘Twin Peaks’ and ‘Mulholland Drive,’ dies at 78, by Jake Coyle | AP  David Lynch, the filmmaker celebrated for his uniquely dark and dreamlike vision in such movies as “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive” and the TV series “Twin Peaks,” has died just days before his 79th birthday. READ MORE . . .  Click HERE for an appreciation from Counter-Currents.

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Links to THREE-plus reports: from the Associated Press, Reuters, and National Public Radio, and to a discussion from Consortium News; other published material or at least headlines is accessible by clicking on their names. (Scroll down for UKRAINE and for IRAN 5-23-26.) — MCM

NEWER  Details emerge of a potential Iran deal as Trump says not to rush, by Samy Magdy and Melanie Lidman | AP  CAIRO — The United States is close to reaching a deal with Iran that would end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and see Iran give up its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, regional officials said today. They said details and timelines would be worked out later. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for same AP report in Spanish; and HERE for others.

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Trump says framework of Iran deal ‘largely negotiated,’ with provision to reopen strait, by Asif Shahzad, Michael Martina and Ryan Patrick Jones | Reuters  WASHINGTON / ISLAMABAD / NEW DELHI — President Donald Trump wrote on Saturday that a memorandum of understanding on a peace deal with Iran is “largely negotiated,” as both countries and mediators in Pakistan reported progress. READ MORE . . .

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What both sides have said about a U.S.-Iran deal. Reported by Greg Myre, Jane Arraf and Ayesha Rascoe | NPR  President Trump took to social media Saturday and said the U.S. and Iran are close to deal on ending the war. But the president didn’t offer details and it’s not yet clear where Iran stands. Click HERE for report, and, HERE and HERE for links to all three Iran war-related reports Saturday and today from NPR’s “All Things Considered” and “Weekend Edition Sunday.”

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FROM MAY 23  Watch: The World This Week — ‘Chaos of the old order.’ Joe Lauria of Consortium News talks again with former CIA analyst Ray McGovern and former U.S. Marine Corps counterintelligence officer Scott Ritter about the Iran and Ukraine wars, Russia, Israel,  Lebanon, China, Cuba and others topics. Click HERE for Lauria’s spoken intro and discussion.

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Links to NINE reports and analyses: from the Associated Press, National Public Radio, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, the Kyiv Independent, Tass, Kyiv Post, Global Delinquents via ScheerPost, and Consortium News; others or at least headlines are accessible by clicking on their names or initials. (Scroll up for IRAN, and down for UKRAINE 5-23-26.) — MCM

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Russia uses hypersonic Oreshnik missile in mass attack on Kyiv, by Samya Kullab and Vasilisa Stepanenko | AP  KYIV — Russia used the powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile during a mass drone and missile attack on Kyiv today that killed at least two people, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. It was the third time the weapon has been used in the four-year war. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for same AP report in Spanish; and HERE for others.  Click HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE for reports from NPR, Reuters, AFP and the Kyiv Independent.

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Russia uses Oreshnik weapon to strike Ukrainian command post. From Tass. MOSCOW — In response to terrorist attacks by the Ukrainian military against civilian facilities located on the territory of the Russian Federation, Russian forces launched a massive strike using Oreshnik, Iskander, Kinzhal and Zircon missiles at Ukrainian military command facilities, the Russian Defense Ministry said today. READ MORE . . .

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World leaders condemn ‘state terrorism’ after massive Russian assault on Kyiv. From Kyiv Post. A broad coalition of international heads of state and foreign ministers responded with sharp condemnation to Russia’s highly destructive overnight aerial bombardment of Kyiv, with several capitals labeling the operation an explicit act of state terrorism. READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine’s secret Al Qaeda invasion of Africa, by Kit Klarenberg | Global Delinquents / ScheerPost  On May 13, French outlet RTL published an explosive report, entirely unremarked upon by English language media. It exposed how Ukrainian military and intelligence units are covertly operating in Mali on France’s behalf, in coordination with both ethnic Tuareg rebels and Al Qaeda-linked forces determined to crush the country’s revolutionary government. READ MORE . . .

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FROM MAY 23  Watch: The World This Week — ‘Chaos of the old order.’ Joe Lauria of Consortium News talks again with former CIA analyst Ray McGovern and former U.S. Marine Corps counterintelligence officer Scott Ritter about the Iran and Ukraine wars, Russia, China, Israel, Lebanon, Cuba and others topics. Click HERE for Lauria’s spoken intro and discussion.

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ADVISORY  Watch: The World This Week — ‘Chaos of the old order,’ at 8 p.m. EDT. Joe Lauria of Consortium News talks again with former CIA analyst Ray McGovern and former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter. From CN intro: Chinese and Russian presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin “say unilateral efforts to rule the world ‘have failed’ and ‘a new type of international relations’ emerges despite ‘neocolonial tendencies’ bringing the ‘law of the jungle.'” U.S. President Donald Trump “mad over Iran and mulls Cuba invasion.” Click HERE later today for Lauria’s analytical article and tonight at 8 to livestream discussion; video to follow after live discussion is over.

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Links to reports and analyses from the Associated Press and El País; other published material is accessible by clicking on their names or initials. NOTE: Three of the four items below link to articles in English or Spanish only, not both.  (Scroll down for UKRAINE, LEBANON, WEST BANK and IRAN, and for CUBA 5-22-26.) — MCM

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FROM MAY 22  Rare public appearances, low profile mark Raúl Castro’s life since stepping down as Cuba’s president, by Andea Rodríguez | AP  HAVANA — Former President Raúl Castro was last seen surrounded by tens of thousands of people attending a state-organized rally for International Workers’ Day along Havana’s famed seawall. The 94-year-old stood . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM MAY 22  Trump applies Venezuela playbook to Cuba, but results may differ, by Ben Finley, Matthew Lee, Farnoush Amiri and Konantin Toropin | AP  WASHINGTON — The Trump administration’s strategy against Cuba is looking a lot like the playbook for Venezuela: An oil blockade, a growing U.S. military presence, federal charges and repeated threats of intervention. But experts say . . . READ MORE . . . Click HERE for same report in Spanish.

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Mistrust between the Cuban exile community and the island’s internal opposition complicates a post-Castro transition, by Juan Carlos Espinosa | El País  Fratricidal infighting makes the task of governing Cuba — should a regime that has ruled it with an iron fist for the past 67 years finally fall — an enormous challenge. Added to this are the chronic ills of an economy in freefall. READ MORE . . .

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La desesperación de los cubanos, entre la asfixia de Trump y la del régimen: ‘¿Cómo vas a resistir si no tienes nada?’ por Silvia Blanco | El País  HABANA — El Gobierno cubano se enroca ante la apabullante ofensiva en todos los frentes de Estados Unidos y se muestra cada vez más desconectado de la ciudadanía. LEA MÁS . . .

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ADVISORY  Watch: The World This Week — ‘Chaos of the old order,’ at 8 p.m. EDT. Joe Lauria of Consortium News talks again with former CIA analyst Ray McGovern and former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter. From CN intro: Chinese and Russian presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin “say unilateral efforts to rule the world ‘have failed’ and ‘a new type of international relations’ emerges despite ‘neocolonial tendencies’ bringing the ‘law of the jungle.'” U.S. President Donald Trump “mad over Iran and mulls Cuba invasion.” Click HERE later today for Lauria’s analytical article and tonight at 8 to livestream discussion; video to follow after live discussion is over.

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Links to reports from the Associated Press and Reuters; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials. (Scroll up or down for CUBA, LEBANON, WEST BANK and IRAN, and for UKRAINE 5-21-26.) — MCM

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A link to a report from Middle East Eye; others are accessible by clicking on its name. (Scroll up or down for CUBA, UKRAINE, WEST BANK and IRAN, and down for LEBANON 5-22-26.) — MCM

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Hezbollah: Lebanon ceasefire included in latest Iranian proposal to U.S. From Middle East Eye. Hezbollah says it has received a message from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stating that Lebanon’s inclusion in any agreement with the United States was explicitly emphasised in Tehran’s latest proposal presnted to Pakistani mediators. READ MORE . . .

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