Summary

Bessent Unveils "Operation Economic Outcast" Against Iran

Pakistan enters diplomatic push: Pakistan's army chief reportedly traveled to Tehran after Trump urged him to help reopen Iran talks.

Iran threatens new tanker action: Tehran blacklisted 45 vessels and warned of further Hormuz attacks.

US readies sweeping sanctions: Bessent is preparing a sweeping economic offensive targeting Iran and its trading partners.

Rial collapses: Iran's currency hit a record low as inflation and economic pressures intensify.

Hormuz leverage in question: Washington & Western sources claim US-supervised shipping through the Oman corridor has surged 400%.

Israel subjecting Russian historian to brutal interrogation – lawyer

Artyom Kirpichenok has reportedly been deprived of sleep, kept handcuffed, and threatened with life imprisonment while in Shin Bet custody

Russian-Israeli historian Artyom Kirpichenok has been subjected to brutal treatment while in Shin Bet custody, including interrogations lasting up to 24 hours, sleep deprivation, prolonged handcuffing, and threats, according to his lawyer.

Kirpichenok, 51, disappeared on August 2 shortly after arriving at Ben Gurion Airport from Yerevan. His whereabouts remained unknown for nearly three weeks before his supporters revealed that he was being held at a detention facility in Petah Tikva.

His lawyer, Inna Lebedinskaya-Katz, was finally allowed to meet with him for around an hour on Sunday after repeatedly seeking access, according to Nika Dubrovsky, a Russian-born artist and writer campaigning for his release.

Citing Lebedinskaya-Katz, Dubrovsky said Kirpichenok has faced interrogation sessions lasting 18 to 24 hours while deprived of sleep. He is allegedly being kept handcuffed and hunched over on an iron stool fixed to the floor, with three or four interrogators standing behind him “shouting, threatening, and applying constant pressure.” He has also allegedly been threatened with life imprisonment.

Kirpichenok is in “tolerable physical condition” and has no immediate health complaints, but is “exhausted, tormented and deeply depressed,” Dubrovsky wrote on X on Monday.

”He understands that his friends have not abandoned him. He is holding on and sends his greetings to everyone,” she wrote. Kirpichenok also asked that no one come to Israel.

The allegations have not been independently verified. However, international human rights groups previously documented sleep deprivation and painful restraint during Shin Bet interrogations. Israel’s Supreme Court has ruled against deliberately using prolonged sleep deprivation to break suspects.

Kirpichenok is being held underground with the lights on around the clock and denied books and writing materials, Dubrovsky cited his lawyer as saying. A gag order remains in force, and the defense has yet to receive the case files or details of the accusations.

Kirpichenok, a dual Russian-Israeli citizen and Middle East expert, is known for criticizing Israel’s policies toward Iran and Palestine. Moscow sought information from the Israeli authorities following his disappearance and said it is closely monitoring the case.

Kirpichenok recently worked with media outlets and civic organizations in Türkiye and Iran and frequently traveled to Iran. Israeli citizens are generally prohibited from traveling to countries they are at war with. Dubrovsky, however, said the trips now appear to be of little interest to investigators.

Born in Russia, Kirpichenok moved to Israel in the 1990s, studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and served in the Israel Defense Forces before returning to Russia. He later became a vocal critic of the Israeli government and its military campaign in Gaza, describing Israel as a Western “colonial project” in his recent book ‘Israel: The Road to Catastrophe’.

https://www.rt.com/russia/644594-missing-historian-israel-prison/

"A War On Nature Is A War On All Of Us": Trump Admin Slashing Environmental Protections At Record Pace

The Trump administration's second term in office has been characterized by a callous disregard for the very sanctity of life, whether that be the lives of people, animals, or plant life.

While most headlines regarding the assaults of the Trump administration on everyday life center around attacks on constitutional protections, civil liberties, and human rights, behind these prominent headlines lies a quieter but just as pervasive onslaught.

From his very first day back in office in January of 2025, President Donald Trump has made rescinding environmental protections a key part of his administration. From the very outset, this corporate kleptocracy has served in the interests of oligarchs, whether they be the Silicon Valley technocrats, or Trump's deep ties with Big Oil unleashing the fossil fuel industry at their behest, the maximized profits of modern day robber barons has taken precedent over people and the planet.

Promoting Pesticides

First reported by TFTP colleague Derrick Broze, under Trump's second term biotech and pesticide corporations are experiencing a major boon as the Trump administration promoted the excessive production of the carcinogenic herbicide glyphosate. As Broze reports:

On February 18, 2026, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) titled “Promoting the National Defense by Ensuring an Adequate Supply of Elemental Phosphorus and Glyphosate-Based Herbicides.” The order invokes the Defense Production Act (DPA) and states that the production of glyphosate-based herbicides is essential to US national security.

Bayer, the parent company of major glyphosate producer Monsanto, has significant ties to the Trump White House, having lobbied extensively to protect its pesticide empire and leverage its influence in Washington DC to wreak havoc with its hazardous chemicals.

As reported by US Right to Know,

Bayer’s big wins with the Trump administration come as the company seeks sweeping legal protections from cancer lawsuits – at a time when a growing body of scientific research links glyphosate to cancer and other chronic diseases, and cancer rates are rising among young people across the U.S. Corn Belt.

Furthermore, the administration has carried out notable betrayals of the Make America Healthy Again movement by withdrawing proposed limits on the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) chemicals which cause significant damage to ecosystems as well as the people exposed to them.

National Forests On The Chopping Block

One of the most devastating assaults on the American wilderness comes in the form of the administration's targeting of national forests, once considered to be protected but now in the crosshairs of opportunists seeking to extract resources at the expense of destabilizing some of the United States' most pristine ecosystems.

Along the US-Mexico border in Texas, bulldozers and excavators arrived in early August to begin clearing sections of Big Bend National Park to make way for the construction of a portion of Trump's border wall following the Department of Homeland Security waiving several key environmental protection laws in June, despite a statistically insignificant (0.045%) percentage of unauthorized crossings in the region. The project, which has been characterized as "inflicting an irreversible scar on the national park", is anticipated to also utilize heavy dynamite blasting in areas such as Mariscal Mountain.

Due to recent backlash, the construction of the section of the border wall in Texas has been paused, although a similar project in Arizona which also decimates sections of Big Bend National Park as well as sacred indigenous sites is still ongoing.

Elsewhere, the administration is rolling back protections of national forests for logging operations. The Associated Press has reported on the recent roll back of a 25 year old U.S. Forest Service regulation, the roadless rule, which prohibited road construction and large scale timber harvesting in over 58 million acres of the national forest system, approximately 30% of national forest lands nationwide.

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/environmental-news/a-war-on-nature-is-a-war-on-all-of-us-trump-admin-slashing-environmental-protections-at-record-pace

REPORT: 49ers Owner, CEO Jed York Arrested in Prostitution Bust

According to court documents obtained by The California Post, York responded to an ad on a prostitution website and arranged to have a sexual encounter with a female for $140.

After pleading no contest, the state of Ohio reduced the charge of engaging in prostitution to disorderly conduct.

York, 46, is a native of Youngstown, Ohio. Authorities apprehended the NFL executive at a “trailer park on Sunday in East Palestine, 30 minutes south of Yorktown, and booked him into Columbiana County Jail,” the New York Post reports. York was also charged with “possession of criminal tools.”

An Ohio judge sentenced York to one day in jail for each count, to be served concurrently.

In addition, York was hit with a $150 fine for the disorderly conduct charge and another $1,000 fine for the possession of criminal tools.

York is the grandson of legendary 49ers Owner Eddie DeBartolo Sr., who parlayed his success in the construction of shopping malls into the building of one of the most successful franchises in NFL history after he purchased the club in 1977.

Jed York became the team’s CEO in 2008.

This isn’t York’s first brush with the law. In 2023, he was at the center of an insider trading scandal in which he was accused of selling his shares in the online educational support company Chegg. Ostensibly created to help students with their homework, Chegg was accused of providing students with the answers to their exams in real time.

York sold his shares at “artificially inflated prices,” according to the suit, profiting by $1.4 million. While the 49ers owner denied the charges, calling them “frivolous,” the suit was settled out of court for $55 million, with no party admitting wrongdoing.

York and his wife, Danielle Belluomini, have two sons, Jaxon and Brixton.

https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2026/08/24/report-49ers-owner-ceo-jed-york-arrested-in-prostitution-bust/

Dutch Quit 2027 Eurovision Song Contest Because… Israel

Next year’s Eurovision Song Contest will go ahead without the Netherlands. The Dutch national broadcaster made the announcement Monday citing the continued presence of Israel as a hindrance.

The Netherlands joins Iceland, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia to have all pulled out of the contest — with the latter three refusing to broadcast the show at all.

“It is undeniable that international conflicts are increasingly affecting the Contest, undermining its neutral character. The Eurovision Song Contest has therefore become a platform for division,” said Taco Zimmerman, Director-General of AVROTROS in a statement from the broadcaster per AFP.

The broadcaster had previously cited the humanitarian situation in Gaza and concerns over press freedom when explaining its decision not to participate in Eurovision 2026 alongside others upset that Israel is allowed to compete.

The contest – launched in 1955 – has recently been hit by a wave of boycotts over Israel’s participation and its efforts in Gaza to rid the neighboring territory of Islamic terrorists who threaten the very fabric of the Jewish state.

Despite the protests, Eurovision remains the ultimate pop platform, catapulting Swedish icons ABBA to worldwide fame, as well as more recently boosting the likes of Celine Dion, Cliff Richard and Olivia Newton-John.

The 2026 competition was watched by 131 million viewers.

https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2026/08/24/dutch-quit-2027-eurovision-song-contest-because-israel/

https://www.antiwar.com/

3 Critical Factors That Will Lead To Reduced Food Production For The Rest Of 2026 And The Entire Year Of 2027

Global hunger was already soaring as we entered 2026, and now it appears that we have a historic crisis on our hands. The war with Iran has significantly restricted the flow of fertilizer out of the Middle East, and even the UN is admitting that this will make global food supplies much tighter in the months ahead. Meanwhile, the war in Eastern Europe has greatly escalated and that has resulted in severely reduced wheat exports from Ukraine. On top of everything else, it is being projected that the strongest Super El Niño in recorded history will peak later this year, and as a result crazy weather patterns will continue to hammer crops all over the planet. At this stage, no rational person can deny what we are witnessing.

Experts are warning that this upcoming fall harvest season will be a real turning point.

Agriculture analyst Noel Fryer recently explained to CNBC why we are facing a “perfect storm” for global food production…

“A lot of things will come together to seriously affect crops next year,” Fryer said on Thursday.

“We’ve had crops decimated by weather in Europe and the U.S. A searingly hot summer in Europe has eroded grazing potential, with no hay and grass for cattle. A possible result of that is significant herd liquidation,” he said.

“We’ve got no end in sight to the Black Sea problem. The issue with fertilizer since the start of the Iran conflict is still there and if anything getting worse. U.S. corn yields look concerning after a wet spring and less fertilizer use, and could push prices up.”

We have never been through anything quite like this.

Everyone assumed that commercial traffic would always be able to flow freely through the Strait of Hormuz, but now everything has changed.

Much of the fertilizer that normally comes out of the Persian Gulf didn’t get to farmers in the northern hemisphere this year, and as a result the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is projecting that there will be a substantial tightening of global food supplies following the coming harvest season…

The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu, emphasized today that the global fertilizer scarcity caused by disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz will lead to lower yields and tightening food supplies in the latter half of 2026 and into 2027. He spoke at the Ministerial Meeting of the MED9++ Countries on “Supporting Food Security and Access to Fertilizers” co-chaired by FAO, Italy and Croatia.

Addressing ministers and senior representatives gathered in Rome, the Director-General stressed that the current crisis extends far beyond geopolitics, increasingly affecting food production, trade, agricultural inputs and access to food worldwide.

“We meet at a moment of profound strain,” the Director-General said. “This is not only a geopolitical crisis, but also a disruption at the core of the global agrifood system.”

We really struggle to feed the planet even in the best of years.

So what will 2027 be like?

In addition to facing a global fertilizer crisis, the rapidly escalating war in Eastern Europe has severely disrupted Ukrainian grain exports…

Recent military strikes on grain export facilities, oil tankers and vessels in the Black Sea region have now made it too challenging for shipping firms to get insurance, meaning many are avoiding its ports. Alternative land routes for Ukrainian grain are also being stymied by low water levels on the Danube river, and by rail maintenance in Eastern Europe.

Ukraine is one of the great breadbaskets of the world.

That is one of the things that makes Ukraine so valuable.

But now it has become much more challenging to get grain shipped out of that nation…

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/3-critical-factors-that-will-lead-to-reduced-food-production-for-the-rest-of-2026-and-the-entire-year-of-2027/

Iran has plans to tackle US economic warfare: IRGC spox

In comments published on Sunday, General Mohebb said: The US President says that he has ordered economic war and started the most severe economic war against Iran. This is a tacit admission of the enemy's shameful defeat in the military arena.

The IRGC spokesman also noted: If you had won in the military arena, you would not have had to start an economic war. Is economic war a new thing? No, you have been waging an economic war for 47 years and have sanctioned all of our economic sectors. The enemy's current job is only to raise awareness and strengthen faith in the [Iranian] people.

He also said: We have repeatedly announced that we have a scenario for every hostile action by the enemy. One of the enemy's hostile actions is economic war. We have a scenario to repel the adverse effects of the enemy's war and easily establish economic relations with countries; there is no concern in the economic field.We have economic interactions under just in proxomity of America, we are bypassing America and you will see the result in the near future.

https://en.mehrnews.com/news/247178/Iran-has-palns-for-each-US-plot-IRGC-spox

Norway to give more than $9 billion to Ukraine in 2027

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/23/norway-to-give-more-than-9-billion-to-ukraine-in-2027.html

Germany plans a €12B missile program to deter Putin

Internal defense ministry documents say the plan for a new long-range strike arsenal ranges from cheap cruise missiles to Tomahawks and future hypersonic weapons.

https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-missile-program-deter-russia-vladimirputin/

France to give new interceptor missiles to Ukraine, Macron says

https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/08/22/france-to-give-new-interceptor-missiles-to-ukraine-macron-says

Trump Abruptly DELETES Data He Doesnt Want You to See

The Trump administration has systematically deleted and altered hundreds of taxpayer-funded federal datasets across agencies to scrub records that conflict with its political and ideological priorities. These removals heavily target public health tracking, climate science resources like NASA's climate.gov, education statistics, and labor surveys, while also eliminating demographic indicators on gender identity and sexual orientation, limiting the public's and policymakers' ability to monitor systemic issues, make evidence-based decisions, and hold leadership accountable. Anthony Davis reports.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pd1I2dzG0z4

Minnesota Democrats vote to KEEP dead people on the voter rolls

“They rejected the amendment that would force removal of deceased voters.”

DEMOCRACY DIES WHEN DEAD PEOPLE STAY REGISTERED

Why fight this hard to leave corpses on the voter roll

https://twitter.com/i/status/2091697813914812895

American-born Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard tells Israeli TV that Israel must wipe Iran "off the map" in preparation for future wars with Turkey and Egypt.

"I hate to put it that way, but Turkey and Egypt are coming up next as our major strategic threat…"

Note the smitten female Israeli host introduces Pollard as an "Israeli legend" and tells him how she had a "poster" of him up in her house.

While American girls idolized Justin Bieber, Israeli girls idolized Jonathan Pollard and Yigal Amir.

https://x.com/infolibnews/status/2091637503682052278

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-906456

Paul Craig Roberts wrote, "America's universities are now knives at America's throat. They are centers of anti-American revolution, not centers of learning. Two generations of young have been deracinated. The break in the transmission of the culture is likely fatal to the continued existence of Western civilization."

https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2022/12/30/insouciant-americans-didnt-notice-the-revolution-that-stole-their-country/

Operation Clean Sweep III Indicts More than 38 Child Predators and Checked 887 Registered Sex Offenders for Compliance

TULSA, Okla. – Today, U.S. Attorney Chris Nassar announced that law enforcement has indicted 38 defendants, and several others have been identified and remain under investigation after the launch of Operation Clean Sweep III in March.

Operation Clean Sweep III (operation) aims to hold child predators accountable throughout the Northern District of Oklahoma. This operation is partnered with the Tornado Alley Child Exploitation and Trafficking Task Force (TACETT), created by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). More than 25 federal, state, and tribal law enforcement partners helped prevent, identify, investigate, and ultimately prosecute child exploitation.

From March 2026 through August 2026, the U.S. Attorney’s Office received referrals from eight of the 11 counties within the Northern District of Oklahoma. Sixty-six cases were opened for investigation. To date, 38 defendants have either been charged by Complaint or Indicted, with the remaining still under investigation. Of the 38 defendants charged, 26 were charged with possessing child sexual abuse material, eight were charged with producing child sexual abuse material, and nine were charged with coercion and enticement for using phones and applications to target minor children. Most importantly, 21 minor children have been identified and separated from the defendants. This number does not represent the children in the child sexual abuse material. Law enforcement agencies will partner with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to identify those children.

From January 2026 through August 2026, NCMEC sent 8,621 CyberTips to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations – Internet Crimes Against Children (OSBI-ICAC) unit. Of those CyberTips, 2,086 cases were opened for investigation. Law enforcement partners in the Northern District of Oklahoma received 586 cases for further investigation.

During this operation, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Muscogee Creek Nation Lighthorse Police Department, the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service, the Pawnee County Sheriff's Office, and the Quapaw Nation Marshal Service conducted compliance checks on those required to register as sex offenders in the Northern District of Oklahoma. The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) provides a comprehensive set of standards for sex offender registration and notification in the United States. In total, law enforcement checked 887 individuals in 10 of the 11 counties within the Northern District of Oklahoma. Investigators found that 34 individuals were not compliant with SORNA standards.

“Clean Sweep III is ending as an operation; however, the cases are not,” said U.S. Attorney Chris Nassar. “Investigations and prosecutions will continue on every open matter that has not yet been charged. The team that built this operation is not standing down. The experience, the relationships, and the enforcement effort will continue. We will keep bringing child predators to justice in the Northern District of Oklahoma.”

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndok/pr/operation-clean-sweep-iii-indicts-more-38-child-predators-and-checked-887-registered

The people building the globally interoperable digital control grid will not be subject to the control grid.

Digital ID is for you.

Facial recognition cameras are for you.

CBDC is for you.

Coward-In-Chief

Guest Post by Chuck Baldwin

A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others.

General Douglas MacArthur

America has had some pathetic leaders throughout its history, but never one the likes of Donald J. Trump. Every principle or virtue of leadership one could point to as being obligatory to the character of a true leader is missing from this man. In fact, Trump’s character is the polar opposite of every principle or virtue of true leadership.

Trump leads by intimidation, threats, humiliation, bullying, arrogance, complete and utter callousness to the needs of others and pure, unadulterated violence and bloodshed. Those are not the marks of a leader; those are the marks of a gangster.

Chief

Guest Post by Chuck Baldwin

A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others.

General Douglas MacArthur

America has had some pathetic leaders throughout its history, but never one the likes of Donald J. Trump. Every principle or virtue of leadership one could point to as being obligatory to the character of a true leader is missing from this man. In fact, Trump’s character is the polar opposite of every principle or virtue of true leadership.

Trump leads by intimidation, threats, humiliation, bullying, arrogance, complete and utter callousness to the needs of others and pure, unadulterated violence and bloodshed. Those are not the marks of a leader; those are the marks of a gangster.

Those are also the marks of a coward. And that’s exactly what Trump is: the Coward-in-Chief. This character defect was put on display for the whole world to see just recently in a most astonishing way—even for Trump.

I begin with an excerpt of an interview between Scottish podcaster George Galloway and former USMC Intelligence Officer Scott Ritter.

George Galloway: Scott, let’s start, if we may, by the absolutely ignominious exit of the President of the United States in a catering cart at the airport in Turkey, having with full panoply climbed on board Air Force One. He skulked out the other side of the plane, was lowered by a crane and packed into what must have been a large catering cart, not telling anyone, even little Marco Rubio, that he’d gone. Marco thought he was snoozing up front or whatever else he does on these overnight flights. But in fact, he was no longer on the plane. And if there had been an Iranian assassination attempt, the entire Washington press corps, which might not have been so widely mourned, and Marco Rubio would have been done and dusted. But as a metaphor for the eclipse of his presidency, it serves quite well, I think.

Scott Ritter: Look, you have to take the security of the President seriously. But to be honest, to allow the President to fly to Turkey in a threat environment that could produce this outcome is absurd in the extreme. It’s a failure across the board. If in fact there was a threat to the President of the United States that was worthy of this kind of tomfoolery, then why did the President fly to Ankara to begin with?

The reason why I bring this up is that there was no threat against the President of the United States, no real threat. But the President has surrounded himself with insane people, literally crazies, who will breathe life into the most ridiculous social media-based rumor, whether it comes from Sarah Adams or Laura Loomer or some other equally insane Islamophobic people who have projected onto Iran the very things that we do.

Understand there’s a lot of American projectionism taking place here because we do assassinate leaders. We did kill the Supreme Leader. You know who doesn’t assassinate leaders? Iran. So, there was no real threat to this President.

Moreover, the shame of being willing to sacrifice—because the implication here is that Air Force One was at risk—[Secretary of State] Marco Rubio and the [White House] press corps. Why didn’t you take their lives into consideration? Because clearly you didn’t announce that the President was leaving Air Force One. So, you’re keeping Air Force One out there as a live decoy. This is shameful. This requires congressional intervention. But there won’t be. Why? Because this was just a game. This was a sham. This was a joke. This is an act of theater. And it shows the lack of professionalism throughout the Trump administration.

I mean, this is a man who has shown that he has no pride in who he is or in what the office that he holds is. No American president should ever allow himself to be evacuated in that fashion.

https://www.theburningplatform.com/2026/08/24/coward-in-chief/