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06/01/2026

EU Imperialism Marching After Hungarian Coup

On April 12th, a political earthquake in Hungary upended 16 years of continuous rule by Viktor Orban. It was a period characterized by constant and ever-mounting confrontation between Budapest and the European Commission, the EU’s executive body.

Now, Orban’s exit has removed a major barrier to EU federalization, and imperialism.

Brussels’ fingerprints are plastered all over his departure from office, and the Commission now evidently perceives an ideal opportunity to exert its will not only over the bloc’s 27 member states, but Europe and beyond.

There are countless legitimate criticisms one could make of Orban’s lengthy run in power. He himself proudly characterized his ruling ideology as a fundamentally illiberal, nationalist project. Budapest under his stewardship clashed with Brussels on issues ranging from academic, judicial and media freedom, migration, minority rights, and rule-of-law concerns to social justice.

Yet, Orban also adopted a more enlightened approach toward Russia compared to most other European countries, and stood firm against ongoing attempts to erode EU member state sovereignty, and construct a federalized continent-spanning superstate, governed by the unelected Commission.

New Prime Minister Peter Magyar exploded onto Hungary’s political scene in March 2024, having no history of political activity or prior public platform. Attacking Orban’s government for corruption while supporting greater EU integration, he was quickly anointed Budapest’s leader-in-waiting by Western politicians and news outlets.

His unprecedented rise was significantly assisted by a vast anti-Orban media and civil society ecosystem locally, lavishly funded by the EU. Obvious questions about whether Magyar’s abrupt, stratospheric success was truly organic have not been asked in the mainstream. [...]

On April 12th, a political earthquake in Hungary upended 16 years of continuous rule by Viktor Orban. It was a period characterized by constant and ever-mounting confrontation between Budapest and the European Commission, the EU’s executive body. Now, Orban’s exit has removed a major barrier to ...

05/31/2026

Life for Syrian People is Far Worse Today than Under Assad, Says Award-Winning Journalist Who Covered Syrian War

Recipient of the Serena Shim Award for uncompromised integrity in journalism, Vanessa Beeley gained an excellent reputation for first-hand reporting during the Syrian War (2011-2024) that challenged dominant media narratives.

In December 2024, Beeley was forced to flee Syria after the overthrow of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, who was replaced by Mohammed al-Jolani, a darling of the Trump administration who has a background in al-Qaeda.

On May 14, Beeley told the Uncontrolled Opposition radio show that “life for the Syrian people today is far worse than under Assad.”

Dominated by Wahhabi mercenaries from all over the world, the country, she said, “is being plunged into the familiar debt enslavement by IMF loans. Mastercard and Visa are back [under Jolani] along with McDonalds, KFC and Burger King but there is less electricity than under Assad—and it was already pretty bad in the last years of the war against Syria—and little employment. Many are being laid off if they are not Wahhabi, particularly the [Shia] Alawites [who supported the Assad government] and Druze. The Druze are now not allowed to go through the Syrian education system, that’s a ruling put out in just the last two days.”

Beeley’s assessment underscores the hypocrisy of U.S. media and pseudo-liberal intellectuals who for years parroted U.S. government propaganda about the supposed evils of the Assad regime but are now completely silent about the plight of the Syrian people under what amounts to a U.S. and Israeli client government.

The plight of Syrians today further underscores the horrific ramifications of the CIA’s Operation Timber Sycamore, a billion-dollar covert operation that helped empower al-Jolani’s al-Qaeda government.[1]

CovertAction Magazine has previously reported on the attacks on Shia Alawites and Christian churches in Syria and ethnic cleansing being carried out under al-Jolani’s oversight. [...]

Recipient of the Serena Shim Award for uncompromised integrity in journalism, Vanessa Beeley gained an excellent reputation for first-hand reporting during the Syrian War (2011-2024) that challenged dominant media narratives. In December 2024, Beeley was forced to flee Syria after the overthrow of S...

05/29/2026

Is Zelensky About To Be "Diemed" as the U.S. Plans a New Phase of War on Russia?

Zelensky’s former press secretary publicly helps lift the veil on Zelensky. Could this be a prelude to him being removed from power?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has much in common with ill-fated South Vietnam dictator Ngo Dinh Diem (1955-1963).

Both were heralded by liberal politicians and the media as democratic saviors and miracle men and showered with U.S. weapons as they waged proxy wars on behalf of the U.S.

Contrary to their public images, however, both were in reality brutal dictators who muzzled the press, jailed and killed opponents, oversaw lethal military operations, and surrounded themselves with corrupt officials who stole U.S. aid money.

In the fall of 1963, after Buddhist immolations brought international attention to the catastrophe unfolding in South Vietnam, the Kennedy administration turned against Diem and sanctioned a CIA-coordinated coup that resulted in Diem and his brother’s assassinations. Afterwards, the Johnson administration escalated the U.S. war on Vietnam, with disastrous effects. [...]

Zelensky’s former press secretary publicly helps lift the veil on Zelensky. Could this be a prelude to him being removed from power? Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has much in common with ill-fated South Vietnam dictator Ngo Dinh Diem (1955-1963). Both were heralded by liberal politicians ...

05/28/2026

Cry My Beloved Lebanon

Reflections on the Carnage...and What Lebanon Used to Be

I am an American citizen, born in Beirut, Lebanon, the daughter of a diplomat/spy, which makes me immune from President Trump’s deportation efforts.

My father, Daniel Dennett, served as head of counter-intelligence for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and later the Central Intelligence Group (CIG), the immediate predecessor to the CIA. An expert in Middle Eastern history and languages, he was highly valued and carried the code name “Carat.” His State Department cover was cultural attaché.

He did not live to see the creation of the Jewish state of Israel in 1948 but, like many foreign service officers at the time, he worried about the impact of sending European settlers to take over Arab lands in Palestine.

For all his foreboding, he could not have imagined the expulsion and flight of 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland in 1948, or that 100,000 would settle in refugee camps in Lebanon. [...]

Reflections on the Carnage...and What Lebanon Used to Be I am an American citizen, born in Beirut, Lebanon, the daughter of a diplomat/spy, which makes me immune from President Trump’s deportation efforts. My father, Daniel Dennett, served as head of counter-intelligence for the Office of Strategi...

05/27/2026

2026 Gaza Flotilla Endures Attacks by Israeli Military and Taunting by Israel’s Security Minister But Wins International Sympathy for its Cause

The largest civilian flotilla in the history of support for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank was intercepted at 10:30 a.m. (Turkiye time) on Monday, May 18, 2026, 250 nautical miles from Gaza.

Multiple large Israeli warships disgorged a large number of Zodiac boats filled with combat-laden Israeli offensive forces.

Some 45 minutes into the interception, the Israeli military combat personnel forcibly boarded many of the 57 ships in the flotilla organized by Global Sumud Flotilla, Freedom Flotilla Coalition, and Mavi Marmara Freedom and Solidarity Association.

Participants from the flotilla were subsequently put on a large cargo ship called the “prison ship” and taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

Flotilla members were subsequently taunted by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and subjected to physical abuse, causing at least 67 to go to the hospital. At least 15 activists also alleged sexual assault, including r**e, which the Israeli prison service denied.

The Trump administration responded not by condemning the Israeli actions but by imposing sanctions on four activists involved with the flotilla mission, whose aim is to bring aid to the beleaguered Gaza population and to help raise international awareness about their plight.

Below is a diary I wrote of the events last week:

May 19:

Ten boats, including the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s boat “Lina” are still sailing toward Gaza in the largest civilian flotilla in the history of support for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank attempting to break the illegal Israeli naval blockade of Gaza.. You can watch their progress on tracker: https://freedomflotilla.org/ffc-gsf-tracker/

Nine U.S. citizens are on the ten boats still under way to Gaza!! More than 400 unarmed civilian participants from 45 countries have been kidnapped in international waters by Israeli military forces.

Their boats have been purposely damaged by the Israeli military and left adrift as a hazard to international shipping and as another violation of international law by the Israeli government.

The 54-boat flotilla, which included boats from the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition and many other organizations from Turkiye, Malaysia and Indonesia was intercepted yesterday, Monday, May 18, 2026, beginning at 10:30 a.m. (Turkiye time). [...]

https://covertactionmagazine.com/2026/05/27/2026-gaza-flotilla-endures-attacks-by-israeli-military-and-taunting-by-israels-security-minister-but-wins-international-sympathy-for-its-cause/

The largest civilian flotilla in the history of support for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank was intercepted at 10:30 a.m. (Turkiye time) on Monday, May 18, 2026, 250 nautical miles from Gaza. Multiple large Israeli warships disgorged a large number of Zodiac boats filled with combat-laden Isr...

05/26/2026

Declassified Government Documents Show Justice Department Indictment of Raúl Castro Advances False Claims

On May 20, the U.S. Justice Department announced charges against the 94-year-old former president of Cuba, Raúl Castro. Allegations accuse him of murder and conspiracy to kill three U.S. citizens and one resident, stemming from the fatal downing in February 1996 of two planes by Cuban Air Force jets.

Declassified documents show back-door, not to mention open-door, diplomatic efforts made by the Cuban government, warning U.S. authorities to cease the repeated, illegal incursions into Cuban airspace.

The planes were flown by Cuban exiles associated with the Brothers to the Rescue (BTTR)—an anti-Castro group founded in the offices of the Cuban American National Foundation, which received more than $100,000 per year from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a CIA offshoot.[1]

The BTTR’s founder, José Basulto, was a veteran of the 1961 CIA-organized Bay of Pigs invasion who bragged of being trained in terror techniques at the U.S. Army School of the Americas in Panama, participated in the shelling of a Havana hotel from a boat, and provided CIA-directed support to the Contra terrorist movement in Nicaragua.[2]

The BTTR described itself as a humanitarian organization aiming to rescue raft refugees, though it was accused of repeatedly dropping leaflets over Cuba that advocated insurrection and plotting to smuggle weapons into Cuba for use in terrorist attacks and assassination attempts directed against Fidel and Raúl Castro.

In March 1996, a group of clergymen, who undertook a “fast for life” on the San Diego/Tijuana border as a call for a more humane U.S.-Cuba policy, stated that BTTR flights were “part of a tradition of hostile pe*******on of Cuban territory that goes back 33 years. In 1971, a Cessna flew over Havana scattering grenades that killed eight people. Cessnas from Miami have sprayed phosphorus on sugar fields; bombed sugar cane mills and tourist hotels; dropped off weapons, explosives, and infiltrators on Cuban territory; scattered leaflets urging people to rise up against their government; buzzed parks and residential neighborhoods to intimidate common citizens. All these attacks were carried out by mercenary Cessnas, not by military planes.”[3]

The clergymen continued: “Every attack on Cuba since the Bay of Pigs has been made by so-called ‘civilian’ vehicles. Cuba has submitted reports on 25 specific incursions from Florida into Cuban territory in the last 20 months. These have been reported through all appropriate diplomatic channels, to both the U.S. government and the International Civil Aeronautics Agency. The U.S. government has been well aware that planes from Florida have been violating U.S. aviation regulations and international law. But nothing has been done to stop or sanction the violators. The U.S. government has a responsibility not to harbor terrorists. But Brothers to the Rescue is still being allowed to operate from the U.S.—even though it has broken national and international laws and regulations. Up until now, the Cubans have reacted to these repeated violations with restraint. The incursions have continued and increased. Cuba might well have assumed that the U.S. was tolerating an escalation of terrorism, since nothing was being done to stop it. The Brothers to the Rescue pilots chose to ignore repeated warnings—not only that they were in Cuban airspace, but that they were flying over a restricted military zone. (Public records show that a military airport and a naval base are in the area. How many times would a foreign and hostile Cessna be allowed to fly over a U.S. military base?)”[4] [...]

On May 20, the U.S. Justice Department announced charges against the 94-year-old former president of Cuba, Raúl Castro. Allegations accuse him of murder and conspiracy to kill three U.S. citizens and one resident, stemming from the fatal downing in February 1996 of two planes by Cuban Air Force jet...

05/24/2026

Join us for a live webinar on 6/9 at 7pm EST with CIA-whistleblower John Kiriakou in support of a campaign to help him secure a presidential pardon. For info, visit:

Join CovertAction Magazine for a special live webinar featuring renowned CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou in support of the growing campaign to secure his presidential pardon. In 2007, John became the

05/22/2026

The Great He**in Coup

The Unknown Part of the French Connection

In 1931 American Mafia leader “Lucky” Luciano united most of the New York Mafia families into the Cosa Nostra, making him the most powerful Mafia leader in America.

Five years later, Luciano was convicted and sent to Sing Sing prison. In 1947, after he had been released from prison in a deal which deported him to Italy under condition that he never come back to America, Luciano returned to Italy and started a large narcotics operation to produce he**in and smuggle it to America.

In the original operation, Turkish o***m was sent to Beirut, where it was made into morphine base by Sami Khoury’s chemists. The morphine base was then sent to Palermo, Sicily, where it was made into he**in #4 (which is injected with a needle).

This was then shipped to Havana, Cuba, where American mafioso Santo Trafficante, Sr. sent it up the East Coast of the U.S. to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Detroit, and elsewhere. New York mobster Meyer Lansky was in charge of the East Coast operation, and of seeing to it that much of the money got to Luciano in Italy.

In 1954 Italian police shut down the Palermo he**in labs and the operation moved to Marseilles, France, where Auguste Ricord’s he**in labs agreed to produce the he**in for Luciano’s network. Before the arrangement with Trafficante, Ricord’s Marseilles labs had gotten their morphine from French Indo-China. Ricord’s labs produced high-quality he**in. The main chemist, Joseph Cesari, was called “Mr. 98%.”

From this time on Luciano’s he**in operation may be correctly called “the French Connection.” Also in 1954, Santo Trafficante, Sr. died and was replaced by his son, Santo Trafficante, Jr.

In 1958 Fidel Castro overthrew Cuban dictator Batista and took over Cuba himself. Many Cubans fled from Cuba and went to Florida. In 1959 Castro expelled Trafficante and his entire Havana Mafia organization from Havana to Tampa, Florida, where Trafficante continued to receive he**in from Marseilles and ship it up the East Coast. [...]

[This article is part of a series looking back on the historic double standards and failures of America’s international War on Drugs. The timing is very apt in light of the Trump administration's escalation of this failed war.—Editors] The Unknown Part of the French Connection In 1931 American M...

05/21/2026

The U.S. Helps Prop Up 200+ Year Old Monarchy in Oman in Exchange for Access to Military Facilities

Jimmy Carter’s administration signed a pivotal military facilities agreement with Sultan Qaboos after he brutally repressed a leftist rebellion

In June 2024, Eric Trump announced the Trump administration’s partnership with a luxury real estate developer, DarGlobal, to construct a $500 million luxury hotel scheduled to open in Muscat, the capital of Oman, in December 2028.

Nestled atop a 100-meter (328-foot) hill overlooking breathtaking canyons and beaches, the five-star complex will feature an 18-hole golf course, hanging suites overlooking the Gulf of Oman, a swimming pool, and the Cliff Hanging Night Club.

The Omani government, headed by Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, is directly involved in the Trump hotel deal since it owns the land and will be taking a cut from the profits.

It aims to use the publicity to present Oman as a major tourist destination and hub for private investment due to its favorable tax environment and strategic location as a gateway between the Middle East and Africa.

Sultan Haitham bin Tariq is part of the Al Said monarchical dynasty, which has ruled Oman since the 18th century, including by proxy through the period of British colonial occupation from 1871 to 1970. [...]

Jimmy Carter’s administration signed a pivotal military facilities agreement with Sultan Qaboos after he brutally repressed a leftist rebellion In June 2024, Eric Trump announced the Trump administration’s partnership with a luxury real estate developer, DarGlobal, to construct a $500 million lu...

05/20/2026

Une Petite Aventure Française

Amid the Cold War, French and Spanish intelligence services recruited terrorists to dismantle a Libyan spy network in Europe. Today, more than three decades later, the case remains shrouded in mystery.

And what if I told you that it is highly likely the nation for which you would be willing to lay down your life has sponsored—or does sponsor—terrorist groups and/or acts of terror, in your name and in the name of national security?

If, like me, you are passionate about the world of espionage, you might be tempted to ignore this question and blindly trust what official sources tell you. It is essential that you do not do so and that you reflect on the profound implications underlying this type of strategy.

The Mad ’80s

December 28, 1985, Paris—The year was drawing to a close. It had been one of the most turbulent on record. Terrorist attacks had become part of daily life in Europe. France, however, had been relatively spared. Between February and December of that year, only one person had lost their life as a result of an attack. It is one death too many, certainly, but a modest number compared to previous and subsequent years. Yet, as Parisians recovered from the Christmas abundance and prepared for New Year’s Eve, two terrorists were seeking to get a jump on the fireworks.

From here on, the information becomes confused and, at times, contradictory. What we know with a reasonable degree of certainty is that Farid Hassan and Faysal Hanna Joude, from Syria and Lebanon respectively, planned to recreate the 1980 attack on the reformist synagogue on Rue Copernic in Paris. It is known that they departed from Spain, determined to wreak havoc. What we do not know, however, is when. The dates fluctuate between October and December.

Be that as it may, they failed. As soon as they set foot on French soil, they were apprehended by the police. The fate of these two men seemed sealed: They would be left to rot in prison. Or, at least, that was the idea. It happens, however, that they ended up being released on orders of the French intelligence services. Civil society knew nothing, of course. It could not know, at least, not at that moment.

Both men were part of an organization called The Call of Jesus Christ. You have likely never heard of it. Almost all available information about this group comes from a bulletin issued by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior in the spring of 1986. But let’s leave that for later. For now, let us focus our attention on this group.

The Call of Jesus Christ was born in Lebanon in 1978, at the hands of Elias Hanna Joude. The group is thought to be part of the Melkite Church, which includes Arab Christians of the Byzantine rite. Beyond that, there is little more to say, except that its ideological make-up was deeply contradictory, as illustrated by its relationship with Gaddafi’s Libya, a pan-Arabist, “socialist” and nominally Islamic regime. They were united by their clear support for Palestinians and disdain for the Zionist movement. [...]

Amid the Cold War, French and Spanish intelligence services recruited terrorists to dismantle a Libyan spy network in Europe. Today, more than three decades later, the case remains shrouded in mystery. And what if I told you that it is highly likely the nation for which you would be willing to lay d...

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