MIDDLE EAST - Palestinians cannot repeatedly pass up opportunities, embrace or tolerate violence instead, and then insist that someone else is solely responsible for the consequences. Before asking why there is no Palestinian state today, it is worth recalling a basic historical fact: there has never been a Palestinian state in all of history. Even the name itself is revealing.

IRAN - Iran has demanded that Donald Trump accept defeat in the Middle East. Responding to the US president’s assertion that the Strait of Hormuz would soon be declared US territory, Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, said the vital oil-shipping route would remain under Iranian control. “The strait will be closed and opened only under Iran’s command, and as long as you do not accept the reality of defeat and cease indulging in fantasies, Iran will continue to enforce the blockade,” Mr Gharibabadi wrote on X. “Once and for all, accept the reality: Up to this point, you have suffered strategic and heavy defeats; the Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, and will remain Iranian.”

UK - Just as we were growing accustomed to the inflationary shock of renewed conflict in the Gulf, along comes another, this time fed by factors beyond our immediate control. Flying into London the other day was to see England’s once green and pleasant land transformed into an ugly brown and yellow dustbowl – a landscape of almost dystopian desolation in its scorched lifelessness. I’m not going to get into the politics of climate change, still less the pros and cons of net zero, suffice it to say that if you haven’t noticed that something extremely alarming is going on with the weather then you need your head examined. This is plainly more than just an aberration.

UK - There are few jobs in Britain where failure can bring the country to a halt in seconds, with lives at risk and huge economic damage done. Operating the electricity grid is one of them, which is why the growing list of problems at the National Energy System Operator (NESO) should worry all of us. In recent weeks we have seen the grid operating outside safe limits, exports to Europe cut without warning or agreement, dramatic claims from whistleblowers that blackouts are inevitable, evidence that meters are being installed backwards as new equipment is connected to the grid, and total failures of NESO systems forcing engineers to use spreadsheets and telephoned instructions. At the same time, NESO has been granted permission to reduce its safety margins and been given enhanced powers to impose rolling blackouts. The maths, as they say, are not mathing.

TAIWAN - “Missile attack. Seek immediate shelter,” flashes the alert on my phone. It’s the middle of the day in bustling Taipei, but the streets are empty and the shops have pulled down their shutters. Air raid sirens ring out and a second message tells me that simulated air attacks on the country’s communications infrastructure have cut the mobile internet. None of my WhatsApp messages or emails are loading. The online apps on my phone won’t work. This is what could happen if China attacked Taiwan. But today, luckily, this is only a drill.

ISRAEL - Binyamin Netanyahu has said that the UK is known as the “Islamic Republic of Britain”, stating that Israel is at war with Iran to prevent a “second” Islamic country from obtaining nuclear weapons. Speaking on a podcast with Avi Harush, who lost his son in combat in Gaza, Israel’s prime minister spoke about naming children after the fallen, and mentioned meeting Winston Churchill’s grandson — also named Winston. He said Churchill’s grandson was a “nice man” and “lover of Israel”, who viewed the Six-Day War as a “positive”. The 1967 war saw Israel capture and occupy east Jerusalem and the West Bank. “Just try to find that kind of attitude in Britain now — or in what’s known as ‘The Islamic Republic of Britain’. You won’t find it,” he said. “Someone said — you know — that the first Islamic republic with nuclear weapons will be the Islamic Republic of Britain. So, we’re making sure there won’t be another one like that in Iran.” His comments echoed JD Vance, vice-president of the United States, who called the UK the first “truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon” at a National Conservatism Conference in 2024.

ISRAEL - Israeli defense officials have been shocked by the speed of Iran’s recovery following the early 2026 war, The Jerusalem Post has learned. This includes both IDF and Mossad officials, though the military was the lead evaluator of targeting and the harm from the targeting of the Islamic Republic’s defense sector. Numerous foreign media reports have poked holes in specific aspects of Israel’s narrative of military success setting back Iran’s military industrial complex by years already dating back to March of this year, but for months, apolitical IDF expert officials held the line that the damage was so extensive that even if some specific claims were off, Israel’s general narrative of setting Iran back years held. Four months after the main war ended in April, the Post understands that the IDF is now seeing a stunningly speedy turnaround that it did not expect and not in merely one or another specific area, but in many areas, including regarding the ballistic missile threat. The Post understands that top Israeli defense officials are now admitting that Iran has figured out creative ways to focus on rebuilding the missile and other defined threats, even if massive parts of the country still remain in ruin.

NIGERIA - More than 50 Muslim and Christian leaders have signed an interfaith peace accord in Abuja, launching a new body to promote religious harmony across Nigeria. Nigeria's more than 200 million population is roughly evenly divided between a predominantly Muslim north and a largely Christian south, with other groups practicing traditional religions. Focus on the religious divide was heightened last November when US President Donald Trump called Nigeria a "disgraced country" and threatened military action over what he said was the treatment of Christians by "Islamic Terrorists."

USA - At a US Senate confirmation hearing on January 29, 2025, Robert F Kennedy Jr, the nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, underscored the dangers of highly processed and chemically intensive foods in the American food supply to the health of Americans. He asserted that these foods are a primary driver of the chronic disease epidemic in the United States. Kennedy noted that the United States permits the use of roughly 10,000 food additives, while Europe allows only 400. To illustrate, McDonald’s French fries in the US contain 11 ingredients, compared to just 3 in Europe. Similarly, American Froot Loops contain artificial dyes, whereas their Canadian and European counterparts boast cleaner formulations.

INDONESIA - At least 47 people have been killed after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Indonesia early on Saturday, the nation's disaster mitigation agency has said. The official death toll has been rising as a search and rescue operation gets under way. The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) said several people had been injured to varying degrees. Hundreds of buildings in the region have been damaged by the quake and the dozens of aftershocks that followed. It will take time to assess the full extent of the destruction in the region, which is remote and mountainous.

GERMANY - We have been reporting since late last year on TGP about how Germany, besides being engaged in an overhaul of its armed forces, is also working to upgrade its intelligence capabilities to face the dangerous new world that we’re living in. So, today (12), the German cabinet approved new powers for its intelligence services to ‘hack communications and disrupt foreign adversaries’ ​operations’. Reuters reported: “The measures, which ‌have been under discussion for months, would allow both the BND, the foreign intelligence service, and the BfV, the domestic security service, broader authority to access digital communications, collect data and carry out active operations to thwart attacks. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the measures, which would incorporate artificial intelligence tools, would ‘revolutionize Germany’s security architecture’. ‘We are transforming our intelligence services into genuine secret services’, he ​told a news conference in Berlin, saying that for the first time, the agencies would ⁠be given operational powers.”

GERMANY - The return of the Stasi? As the Euro-Globalist failing leaders try to whip their countries into an anti-Russia Frenzy, Germany is trying to come out of this process as the country with the largest military and – it appears – the meanest intelligence services. In a move reminiscent of the darkest days of the Cold War, new legislation will allow spies from Germany’s foreign intelligence agency ‘to attack and sabotage enemies of the state’. The Telegraph reported: “Since its founding in 1956 in West Germany, the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) has only been permitted to gather and analyze intelligence. But a new law, drawn up by chancellor Friedrich Merz’s coalition, will give BND spies additional powers to launch cyber-attacks, carry out sabotage abroad and covertly enter the homes of enemies of the state.”

USA - The elites who run a large northern Dallas suburb have provoked national anger after ignoring the will of the people and submitting to political Islam. A brave Christian migrant who survived Sharia law in Iran walked straight up to the McKinney City Council and delivered a blistering, unfiltered warning that had the chamber erupting. Eddie Isa (also referred to as Eri Issa / Edwin Isagholi), an Iranian-born Christian and self-described “Sharia law survivor,” stood before the packed August 4, 2026, meeting and told the council exactly what soft Westerners refuse to hear. “I’m a Sharia law survivor from Iran,” he declared. “I’m TELLING YOU, this is a BAD idea, and you’re going to REGRET not listening to people like us who lived under Sharia law!”

USA - Police Chief Issa Shahin released a desperate video message urging residents to stay away from Tuesday’s August 18 city council meeting because “anti-Islam protesters,” including activists planning a “Christian Crusader March” to “Stop Islamification,” are expected to show up and exercise their First Amendment rights. “Please stay home,” Shahin said. Dearborn Police Chief Issa Shahin says individuals and organizations from outside the community may travel to the city for an anti-Islam demonstration. Police will deploy an “enhanced presence” and have prepared what the department describes as a comprehensive security plan. Shahin claims the expected demonstrators are coming to provoke residents, manufacture a confrontation and generate publicity. Dearborn has become ground zero for the demographic and cultural transformation of America. The city is now majority Arab and heavily Muslim. Outdoor Islamic calls to prayer blast through neighborhoods. Mayor Abdullah Hammoud previously told a Christian resident he was “not welcome” in the city.

USA - The Pentagon is pressing US arms makers to accelerate production as the ongoing war with Iran depletes critical weapons stockpiles, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing a Department of War memo to industry leaders. The memo, written by Deputy Secretary of War Steve Feinberg and reportedly sent earlier this week, gives manufacturers 21 days to propose “significantly faster” and “more aggressive” delivery schedules, expanded production capacity, or both. “Years-long development cycles are not acceptable,” Feinberg wrote. “We must dramatically accelerate our program schedules and expand our production capacity now.”