Israel continues crack down on journalists with Al Jazeera raid in West Bank

The Israeli government outraged press freedom advocates when it occupied and forcibly shuttered news broadcaster Al Jazeera’s headquarters in the West Bank, representing the latest escalation of violence in the occupied territory that has often gone overlooked amid the country’s campaign in Gaza.

“Israel said it carried out Saturday’s raid on Al Jazeera’s bureau in the West Bank after concluding that the news network’s offices there were ‘being used to incite terror,’” reported Bloomberg. “An ‘up-to-date intelligence assessment’ determined that ‘the channel’s broadcasts endanger the security and public order,’ the Israel Defense Forces said.”

Staffers at the Ramallah bureau broadcast the initial moments live of the tense confrontation with heavily armed Israeli forces, who ejected workers, confiscated cameras and other equipment and declared the office closed for 45 days.

“Al Jazeera rejects the draconian actions and the unfounded allegations presented by Israeli authorities to justify these illegal raids,” said Al Jazeera in a statement posted to X.

The move comes after the Israeli Knesset voted to close Al Jazeera’s offices in Israel four months ago, raiding the news outlet’s bureaus in Nazareth and East Jerusalem. Legislation passed in May provided Israeli authorities with significant latitude to shut down news outlets accused of threatening Israeli national security.

The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists also slammed the move, saying it was “deeply alarmed” by the forced closure of the Ramallah office.

Al Jazeera denounced the closure of the Ramallah bureau, noting that it lies within territory under the sovereign control of Palestinian authorities under international law. Israel has illegally occupied Gaza and the West Bank since 1967, also seizing control of Syria’s Golan Heights and annexing Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and portions of southern Lebanon until forced to surrender the territory after international pressure.

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UK defunds Confucius Institutes in latest example of Western anti-China freakout

The UK government has announced it is pulling funding from Chinese-backed Confucius Institutes across the country in the latest manifestation of anti-China anxiety across the Western world.

“Like any international body operating in the UK, Confucius Institutes need to operate transparently and within the law, and with a full commitment to our values,” read a statement from a spokesperson for Keir Starmer’s Labour government that asserted “challenges” posed by Beijing.

Confucius Institutes are Chinese government-backed institutions on international college campuses that dedicate themselves to promoting Chinese culture and supporting the teaching of the Chinese language.

A report from the UK Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee last year alleged that Confucius Institutes are “Trojan horses” for Chinese soft power and propaganda. Beijing likens the program to similar Western government–backed organizations dedicated to promoting culture and language abroad, such as the UK’s British Council, Germany’s Goethe-Institut and France’s Alliance Française.

A similar controversy over Confucius Institutes has simmered in the United States over the last several years. The US government alleged in 2019 the organizations exercised “undue influence;” the number of Confucius Institutes on US college and university campuses subsequently plummeted from 100 to just five.

The attacks on the program have contributed to a shortage of Chinese language teachers in the United States, threatening cultural ties between the two countries and putting the future of diplomacy between Washington and Beijing in doubt. The United States’ Chinese language interpreter was roundly mocked online after making several major mistakes during a tense US-China summit in Alaska in 2021.

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‘Crisis’ in Navy submarine program latest sign of decline of US military power

Amid a spate of bad press for the US Navy, a major crisis of cost overruns for the force’s submarine building program is the latest sign of the decline of the United States as a military power.

“In a word, these programs are in crisis,” said Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) in response to news that the Navy’s submarine program is some $17 billion over budget, with construction facing delays of up to three years.

“Without exception they are falling behind,” he continued. “Increasingly they are over budget. Absent today's intervention I have zero confidence that Navy shipbuilding will get back on track.”

Calvert excoriated Navy leadership, alleging it had “withheld information on costs and delays” and claiming its “plans to address” the shipbuilding crisis “are primarily aspirational.” The lawmaker noted the service is committed to producing two so-called Virginia-class submarines per year but has struggled to build an average of 1.3 yearly.

As China's naval fleet expands, the United States is facing new setbacks in the construction of submarines and warships, a European media outlet reported earlier this year.

The US Defense Department consistently fails attempted audits conducted by Congress, with trillions of dollars in assets unaccounted for. The failure of Ukraine in its ongoing conflict with Russia, even as it enjoys the assistance of Western military planners and NATO’s weaponry, has proven to be a major embarrassment, calling the United States’ presumed military superiority into question. Earlier this year, it was revealed Russia is producing three times more artillery shells than the US and Europe combined amid the Western-backed Ukraine proxy war.

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