The Shepherd Who Found Israel's Secret Base And Paid the Price!

All right, hello everybody and welcome to Geopolitical Trends, where truth matters. A shepherd stumbled across something in the Iraqi desert, and he was never supposed to find that out, and that might have cost him his life. And actually, what satellite images are now revealing about Israel's secret military network stretching from Baku, from Baghdad to Baku, is now reshaping everything we thought we knew about the Iran war and the next one for that matter. So in this, uh, live stream, this analysis, I'm going to be sharing with you information about the Israeli forward bases. Those are what we call the forward operating base or FAB, known as that, uh, in Iraq, and makes you just want— there are so many questions now that deserve answers, and that's what I intend to do in this live stream. So make sure, please, you stay with me till the end. I'm going to keep it concise and to the point here. So while the world is watching now, missile flying over Tehran and Israel and, and, and anything in between, And has already quite— Israel has already quietly planted boots on the ground deep inside Iraq, a country that has no idea that Israelis were there. Makes you just wonder about Iraqi sovereignty. And when you consider about who the, the elected new prime minister of Iraq and who backed him up, it was the US. So this isn't a conspiracy theory because I don't get involved in this kind of, uh, conspiracy stuff.

Whatever.

If I don't have facts on stuff, I don't talk about it. Simple as that. It's confirmed, and now it's confirmed even by US officials because they have been cornered that they can't lie about this anymore. As a matter of fact, it was the US that has asked for certain satellites to turn off So the US official now is confirming it. Satellite imagery is confirming it as well. And this is exactly what you have. And even some media outlets here in the US, like Wall Street Journal investigation, also confirming this. And why is no mainstream media talking about it? Makes you just wonder. I was made aware of this few days ago. Once again, I don't rush into just addressing whatever, uh, till I confirm the stories for you, and there is a reason for that. So if you think about what just happened as of yesterday, May 17th, so you have a base, okay? This is what even Wall Street, uh, reported, and I have links to other sources, and I'm going to share them with you. So it was reported that Israel has operated a military facility inside Iraq before the start of the attack on Iran. Here is what you need to understand: this is nothing new, because when I investigated this and read the research about it, whatever I could find, put my hands on, I found that it goes back to 2024. And when you consider the role of some other countries like Azerbaijan, it will make more sense to you. So the base, which was established with the knowledge of and in coordination with the United States— this is why the US officials now are cornered, they can't lie about it anymore. So this coordination, uh, between the US and Israel That's what served as a forward logistical hub for the Israeli Air Force and special commando forces with one objective and one objective only, and that objective is to support air operations against Iran. You also have in those forward bases, you have rescue teams were also stationed at the site, and the purpose of it is to provide immediate response in the event of an Israeli pilot— not an American— Israeli pilots were down in enemy territory. And this one was disclosed by even some media inside Israel. There are some good outlets there like Haaretz. I read their, their, their articles. They are challenging the government on certain assumptions. So, so I'm going to put the link for you And this came from the Israeli Hayom. It's well known there. So, so what appeared to be a makeshift airstrip in a dry lake bed roughly about 180 kilometers— let me show you the satellite image that pinpoints this location. This is the satellite image as of May 2022— as of March, I'm sorry, as of March 2026. So you have a 180-kilometer, uh, uh, uh, airstrip, and that was located in the southwest part of Karbala, you know. And that was located— this location was also discovered by, in addition to open-source intelligence analyst, in satellite imagery, taking just days few days before the Iran war started, second one. And here is now the, the, the importance about all this. You get now a second base that has been exposed. And who reported this was the New York Times. There is a second Israeli base, military base, was discovered in the western Iraq desert. And this one, how did it happen? It happened because this, this whole story surfaced. Remember when I started this live stream, I told you, uh, let me, let me put it back. I told you that a shepherd stumbled across something in the desert he was never supposed to find. This is the story of the second base, because the surfacing of it was through reporting on the killing of a shepherd who exposed the facility location. And what you have, you have the regional security officials now said that this base was also used during Operation Rising Lion, which is the Israeli one targeting Tehran in June 2025. That's how back, how far back this FOB, or Forward Operating Base, goes to. And that the Israeli forces use this base, that's where they prepare, uh, they did the preparations to begin as early, because this one was started as early as late 2024, around December time. And again, I found the link for you and I read it in Arabic language, so So I'm going to share it with you in the chat box here.

You can read it later on, uh, and you can always translate that should you decide to do so.

So the current status of it is murky. Why? Because once you have the exposure of a base on a sovereign nation like Iraq— Iraq to me is sovereign on paper. I mean, sad to say, but it's reality. So the situation is murky as of today. Because what you have, you have the second base, which was the older one, that is, that what's used in 2025 war, is no longer operational. However, the status of the base used in 2026 war, which is still going on, is not known. This is where the discrepancy is, the murkiness of it. So as of May 11th, 7 days ago, last week, the Iraqi Parliament, uh, member Shakir Abu Tunab al-Tamimi of the pro-Iranian Badr organization claimed that an American-Israeli base was still active in Iraq. However, The PM launched an operation on May 12th alongside other security forces to impose the sovereignty in southwestern part of Iraq in a direct response to the revelation. And this is why the Iraqi government, the authorities, have now been trying to contain this embarrassment caused by the report. And that is why the Iraqi government, in conjunction with the US, issued conflicting accounts while observers describe their security response to be belated, per se. So the bottom line to this part, I need you to understand, is that the older base is confirmed to be closed, but the new one 2026 remain active. And that is, to my knowledge, is officially unknown. And there is reason for that, and I might get into—

I will get into it as I move forward.

But there is now an actively disputed between the Iraqi political factions because it's an embarrassment. So the mystery of the Iraq desert— how did Israel build a secret base and exploit a radar blindness? That is the key question that any, any objective analyst, military and otherwise, ought to ask. This is a picture, by the way, from an archive photo of a radar scanning on the skies above the US military base in city of Kirkuk.

And I was there in Iraq, so we were familiar with those, uh, with the Reaper a repeater and so forth on the top of the mountains.

So this logistical and military breakthrough, which came, by the way, this one— and, and that's, by the way, this is why the issue of this secret Israeli, uh, bases in Iraq has surfaced all of a sudden, because it was an initial leak to the Wall Street. Makes you wonder Who leaked the info? Then you have a detailed investigation. So between the leak and the inform— the, the, the detailed investigation, it revealed the existence— they both confirm the existence of two secret bases used to support strikes against Iran. So the logistical and the military breakthrough which came in light of the following of the killing of an Iraqi shepherd That is what triggered all this. But also, it does not appear to be based solely on technological superiority, but also on a political factor.

Because why?

Because the US— because this indicates the use of the US influence to impose a deliberate radar blindness in the skies. That is why I'm saying the Iraqi government, as of now, it's useless. So I'm going to share with you 5 key points to highlight to you where things are so you'll have a better understanding. The first one is the radar— the radar, I'm sorry, the radar paradox, because we need to understand these aspects of it. Without it, it won't make sense to you. This is where the Iraqi security officials are saying that Washington forced— and I quote here, and I provide you the link— forced Iraq to turn off its radars to protect American aircraft in both in 2025 and 2026 because of the Iran war, and making Baghdad more dependent on American forces to monitor any hostile activities. This is the problem with that. And this action effectively emptied the Iraqi monitoring environment— in other words, of its effectiveness— meaning that Iraq had no capability of tracking its own territory because we stripped them of that by asking, forcing them to turn off the radars. And that with this action by the US, what it did, it created an air corridor.

This is the key—

created an air corridor outside the scope of independent Iraqi monitoring, which Israel exploited for crossing and deployment. So according— once again, this is again what has been confirm the— is, is the dominant role in Iraqi security, which took part of Tel Aviv's calculation when deciding to operate inside Iraq. So the bottom line is some Iraqi security services were cooperating with both Washington and Tel Aviv. And following this, You have now the Iraqi Army Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Abdel Amir Yarallah. I have a picture of him right here on a picture as the guy in the middle. He contacted the Americans to clarify the identity for the force, or of the force, that is, and Washington simply responded briefly by saying, and I quote, it's not an American force, end of quote. No explanation, no whatever. In other words, we don't owe you an explanation even though we are violating your sovereignty. And that's— again, it goes back to 2024.

And I'm not going to detail more into this because I got to move on into—

what you need to understand is that the key for you to understand is that this prior coordination with Israel and the US and Iraq planning, uh, of the site since 2024, and both Washington's knowledge of one of the two bases since at least 2025, which places the entire operation under the umbrella of the American secrecy. Two is the nature of the rule. What do I mean by this? These sites, you know, are not big. I was stationed in once in Iraq— in Iraq, it was in Afghanistan. They were in Yemen, they were in, in Africa. You know, I'm not, I'm not denying this because I was part of, of, of the government back then. So what you have is you have Western military sources indicate that they were forward operating bases. That's how we call them, FOBs. And usually they works for specific taskings. For example, arming, refueling, and rescue operations. Because who is there? Usually just special ops. That's it. Special ops, technicians, and people who deal with logistics. That's it. Very limited. And to me, why I'm highlighting all this to you— for you— is that these points that I mentioned included limited number of elite forces were used temporarily to shorten the distance to Iran.

That's one.

And second is to provide a launch— immediate, immediate launching base for search operations for pilots in case planes were shut down. Number 3 is geography. This is the important aspects of it. Why is this important? Is because the terrain was a crucial factor in concealment, as the observed location in Wadi Hemyar. To those who familiar with Iraq, you know what I'm talking about. And Wadi Hemyar is situated and located in a vast, almost empty desert. I'm gonna share a picture with you that I took Uh, when I was in one of those deserts in, uh, So when you consider the dry lake bed into this, that's what allowed for the construction of the 1.6-kilometer runway. And that is why the satellite images show an accelerated timeline of the process. And it goes back to March, and I'm gonna walk you through the timeline briefly here. I take you back to March 2nd. What happens on March 2nd? That's where the supplies arrive and the runway is built in few days. March 3rd, the next day, the Iraqi sponsor of AQ was discovered and killed by Israeli fire. AQ, you know what I'm referring to here, right? March 4th, that's when an Iraqi recon force came under fire, resulting in the death of one of the soldiers and forces retreat. And between March 6th and March 18th, remember what happened, the, the war in, in Iran, when did it start? Between March 6th and 18th, it was an increased field impact and peak operational activities. Then came April 1st, that's when the base completely disappeared. So makes you just wonder. Number 4, the questions that remain without answers. So despite the accuracy of the satellite images like the one I showed you, uh, some images right there, okay, so despite all this Despite the press report, limited report, the technical and logistical aspects of the operations remain shrouded in secrecy. And that's usually the norm for FOBs or forward operating bases. Those are not your normal base established like open—

no, no, no, no, those are different.

Secrecy is part of it. So, and that is why the available resources did not reveal the nature of the technologies or electronic warfare methods used to deal with the remaining radars, nor, nor how huge quantities of fuel and ammo, or ammunition that is, were transported deep into the desert without attracting attention. What I can share with you without going into details, the— some countries right now in the Gulf States, without— I can't because it's still classified, believe it or not. They have no idea that US Special Forces are on their territories. Uh, one of them, Jordan, has been revealed because of the TANF, uh, uh, uh, attack that took place. And I did a video for you about 5 months ago.

So the Jordanian government denied the, the existence of the American bases, and now they are.

I'm talking about other countries, and those are not known at all. Just look at those countries here, you'll figure it out. You're smart enough to know. And this is the key importance once again why the, the secrecy is so, so crucial into this one here. But it also remain unclear how the encrypted communication with the leadership in Tel Aviv were managed without leaving a detectable signal signature. And even, even because before you establish a base, just to share this, and, and it's nothing, once again, nothing classified about what I'm sharing with you right now. Before you issue— before you establish a base, what do you do? You do a field survey. And a field survey of what? Of the soil. So what's interesting about this is that it was a field survey of the soil that was conducted way back in 2024, before the final site was chosen. That's the important thing about it. And for the technology, the encrypted communications, uh, Israel has some advanced systems. Of course, we giving them the systems, uh, uh, that's usually how it works. And number 5 is the calculated show of force. Why is this important? Is because the disclosure of this base after the end of its mission does not appear to be just a passing, uh, journalistic leak. No, no, no, no, no, no. Because when you think about— as a geopolitical analyst, you're going to have to think about the idea of that this publication should be read within the context of the current political moment, uh, in the region. You have to take it into the context of the faltering of truce negotiations between the US and Tehran. You have to take it within the context of Israel pushing for the second phase of the Iran, uh, war which we are about to embark on. All this is part of a calculated show of force. I don't even go as far as saying a message of deterrence, deliberate deterrence message. That is how you look at it. Because just as— and one who works in the intelligence, military intelligence, uh, units and so forth, you think about just as secrecy of, of the, uh, of, of the military operation at the height of its need, it needs to be carried out strikes. Deliberate disclosures served the post-like phase. And that is also to send one message, is that they confirm Israel's ability to establish and operate and dismantle and what have you military sites for, for deep within territories. That's how it works. And this is why you have, when you look at this map here, you have to understand, and I'm gonna say, I'm gonna tell you why you have to, uh, uh, uh, uh, understand the role of geography into this. If the truth matters to you, hit like, subscribe, and tap that bell. No spin, no agenda, just the stories they don't want you to know. Don't watch from the sideline, be part of the movement. Your support keeps the truth alive. Thank you. So the next question we ought to ask is, what are the security and geopolitical implications of this, given how Netanyahu was supposed to make a trip to Azerbaijan, a country known for hosting Mossad agents?

That is the reason why geography is important.

And let me just clarify one thing. The trip didn't occur. I was following it. I didn't say a word about it. It's because, again, with this kind of stuff, you have to wait. You can't rush into, uh, you can't rush into the judgment of, oh, he's going to—

no, doesn't work that way.

The trip was of Netanyahu was supposed to be between 7th and 11th of May this year, just last week. It was postponed, wasn't canceled now, postponed. And the official reason cited was the official developments in Gaza and Syria. Why am I has to do some truth with it? It was something else, and that something else has to do with Turkey. Why? Because the real reason for why the trip was postponed is because Turkey refused to grant Netanyahu's plane overflight right over its airspace. The trip appears to still be anticipated in rescheduled form. That is the whole reason for why. And with this, this is why Turkey went ahead— if you— I don't know if you're following what happened last week when Turkey announced the development of the ICBM, the first non-nuclear country to develop an ICBM. It's called the Yildirim Han ICBM, which has a range of between, uh, of about 6,000 kilometers with a maximum speed of Mach 25 and a payload capacity of 3,000 kilograms.

So they just developed this one.

Then you have the other side of the equation, and the other side has to do with the Azerbaijan-Israeli relationship. What makes it unusual? This is the important— and, uh, and I want to go back to quickly, if you allow me, uh, to something. Hanging G, you mentioned— I'm gonna share it here. Hanging G, you mentioned this, and yet, yes, we did talk about this one. As to the, the, the, the, the TRIPS corridor, Caspian Sea and you and Uzbekistan and so forth. So you're absolutely correct, we did talk about this one, uh, way back. So Azerbaijan, if you think about Azerbaijan, there has one thing specific about it is that it is a Shia Muslim country that maintains notably a friendly stance towards Israel, which is unusual, a striking exception in the Muslim world. So Israel sells Azerbaijan advanced weapon systems, and the two countries have deep bilateral cooperation. That is again why you need to understand the importance of geography. You need to understand why Israel went ahead and established the base inside Iraq and is intended to expand it from Iraq, from Baghdad all the way to Baku. Baku is the capital of Azerbaijan. I've been there a couple times on my way to Afghanistan. So, so you think about in January 2026 of this year, Israeli imports about crude oil from Azerbaijan reached its highest, so highest in the last, uh, 3 years or so, to my knowledge, because Azerbaijan supplied Israel with about 94,000 barrels per day. That's about, give or take, 40 to 46% of Israel's total crude import. And this continues despite Turkey's formal trade restrictions on Israel because Azerbaijan's crude still reaching Israel via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. There is a pipeline that goes separately. Then you have the Iran angle, strategically crucial. Azerbaijan sits on the border of Israel's, uh, archenemy Iran. Just look at that. And access to that border is widely believed to be a key enabler of Israel's campaign against Iran's nuclear program. This is why Tehran has repeatedly expressed concerns that Azerbaijan territory is and could be also used for possible Israeli attack on Iran, and they prove the right. Because what Iran is seeing into this, Iran is seeing that the US-Israel-Azerbaijan cooperation This is a way of encircling Iran. Is the same scenario which I will share clip with you towards the end about the encirclement of China.

It's an interesting dynamic, so we'll, we'll get to it in, in, in a second.

There is another dimension which is the intelligence dimension part of this. Azerbaijan has been long been identified in regional reporting as a base for Mossad operations targeting Iran. Uh, yes, it's just been reported. I was aware of it back in the day. So, and the way it works is just this base of Mossad conducts monitoring, uh, uh, and also the base is reportedly facilitating some operations given the shared borders between Azerbaijan and Iran. Easy access, very, very, very crucial. And, and this is where Syria comes in and Turkey. This is the diplomatic agenda part of it, the political aspects, if I may. You have Syrian, you have Turkey, close relations with both Turkey and Israel to mediate between the two nations. Meaning Azerbaijan is trying to do all this. Bakl was one of the architects of the Turkish-Israeli détente in both 2016 and 2021. But also Bakl is playing the role in Abraham Accord. This is why Israel is pushing towards having Kazakhstan and, and, and into the Abraham Accord and pulling the Saudis into that as well. In the past, Azerbaijan has used, has used its role into this. But after the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, Azerbaijani diplomats shuttled between Jerusalem and Ankara.

Why?

To prevent accidental clashes between Turkish and Israeli troops in Syria. Remember one time I mentioned to you that Israel has now its sights on Turkey, which will not be an easy tasking for Israel. I mean, I hope it never gets to that, because if there is ever a military conflict between Turkey and Israel, it's a major, major, major issue. First, Turkey is a NATO member, and second, when the US comes to the aid of Turkey, as part of the Article 5? What do you think? And, and the third element, if I may ask, can Israel defeat Turkey? Especially, that's why I see the timing of Turkey announcing their ICBM, uh, missile, even though it's 6,000 kilometers. That's long distance. Israel, uh, uh, is, is closer to Turkey than 6,000. Makes you just wonder, all this. And this is why the visit, the visit that was supposed to happen by Israel, uh, Netanyahu to, uh, Azerbaijan, uh, had included in its plan to formally connect Azerbaijan to the Abraham Accord framework. For one reason, is to strengthen the trilateral relations between the US, Azerbaijan, and Israel. And, and by the way, it's not just Mossad operating there. The US is also operating there.

Let me just, uh, clarify that for you.

And this is why you have now, uh, top, uh, Azerbaijani diplomats in you know, coming to, uh, uh, uh, you have those in, in, in Azerbaijan, you have influential US rabbis, you have Netanyahu himself discussing the possibility of this Abraham Accord. So then there is the ICC factor, the International Criminal Court. Azerbaijan is not a party to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Which has issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu. I still don't believe— shame on what's his name, the late— last, uh, the former rather, Orban, when Netanyahu went to Hungary but he couldn't arrest him.

So that tells you right there.

So this means that there is no danger for Netanyahu to travel to Azerbaijan. That is why. So the bottom line to this is that the visit sits at the intersection of several live strategic threads. That's my point, why I wanted to address this part. So you have the post-Iran, uh, war consolidation. You have intelligence cooperation against Iran. You have energy security. You have the Abraham Accord. It's expansion. And you have the Turkey-Israel-Syria triangle. So the fact that Azerbaijan shares a border with Iran and hosts the Israeli intelligence, and in addition to its relationship, that makes any visit for Netanyahu far more than ceremonial. It signals to Tehran that the northern front of its strategic encirclement remain very much intact till Iran purge itself from— first of all, to get rid of double agents, including some Indians there as well, which they have been arrested, by the way.

So nothing's going to change.

And this is what I need you to understand. So the, the— what's— and here is my conclusion before I play the clips for you quickly here. So What's unfolding right now in Iraq, in Iran, in Azerbaijan is not just some sort of, uh, uh, a series of isolated issues or event. No, no, no, no, no. It's deliberate. It's methodically, methodically constructed strategic arc that didn't happen in '25 or '24. That's been years in the making. Remember, my last stop in Baku was in 2008, and even back then there was already the conversation regarding this outcome. Because what you have, the plans in the making for years, you have the hidden sites, the hidden, uh, uh, uh, uh, or the secret based in, in an open— hidden, right, in plain open. So, and because with it, and, and because I'm objective in my assessments, when I see something like this, I'm saying, in the case of Israel, has demonstrated it can project covert military power deep into sovereign territories. That's exactly what this sort of communicate. It can maintain intelligence networks across hostile borders. That's exactly what they're doing on the border between Azerbaijan and Iran, and in Syria now, and in Lebanon, and in United Arab Emirates, and in Bahrain, and in Qatar, and in Saudi Arabia. That's why the Saudis freaked out, uh, and, and deported all the Indian nationals.

It's because of that.

And that is also why Israel is also building that alliance quietly to encircle Iran, because to Israel, Iran is the greatest adversary. So the rules of— as one who wrote about extensively on the Middle East or West Asia, the rules of the Middle East warfare, you know, have been changing for the last 15 years or so. That is exactly how, how it works. All right, let me, uh, let me know what you think. So, because I want, I want, I want to ask you a question. If Israel was already operating secret bases inside Iraq before the war even started against Iran, What other covert infrastructure is already has in place that we haven't discovered yet? So if you care to share your comments, just drop me, uh, your comments in the comment below in this section for comments.

I would greatly, greatly appreciate it.

All right, let me, let me share some clips with you. Those are brief here because I always like to do this, to share a few things with you before I sign off here. Oh, I didn't, uh, sorry, I didn't— I, I, I translated it for you here.

Let me, let me show you this one here. I thought I screenshot— there we go.

And this is Yanar Arab Emirate. Mainly, but there's something into this one here.

Yeah, take a lesson please.

So what it says is that the United Arab Emirates wanted to have all the Gulf states join it in its operation. However, it found itself, uh, by— it found by itself, and this is what was discovered by Bloomberg The American news magazine in a recent report, and what it discovered is that Abu Dhabi tried to convince the Saudis and the Qataris and the rest of the Gulf states to join it in attacking Iran. That's what they tried to do after the US and Iran— the US and Israel attacks on on, on, on Iran.

So started back in February 28th.

However, uh, United Arab Emirates, uh, said that the GCC was established for this reason, to fight Iran, which is not true. He's lying. So however, the Gulf States are seeing that firing Iran is not going to serve their interest. It's going to serve the interest of Abu Dhabi, meaning United Arab Emirates, and Tel Aviv, and Washington. It's not serving their own. And that is the reason why, uh, the, the, the Gulf States refused, uh, the United Arab Emirates' request, and they were disappointed.

That's why the United Arab Emirates gets disappointed.

So, uh, next clip is about Donald Trump admitting something finally. Take a listen.

It's in English here.

Okay, hold on, let me share the screen. All right, take a listen, please.

An admission on the Iran War which jumped out at me, and it might to you too. Here it is in SOT 7.

We're doing it to help Israel and other countries.

So there it is. I mean, lest there was any doubt, it's the first thing in the answer. We did it to help Israel. We're doing it to help Israel and other countries. But just to say that is so controversial, that we're doing it to help Israel. We know We know that. We've said that many times. And then you get called an anti-Semite. But that's not anti-Semitic. It is a fact. You heard it from the president of the United States himself.

I thought this was a movement that was calling itself America First. And then you have Trump saying we're helping Israel get rid of their big enemy. This war is serving nobody's interests other than Israel's. Everybody would be fine if they left tomorrow except one country, and that country's name is Israel. That's the reason why Trump can't get out.

Yes, correct. And that's the reason why Trump got in, and it's the reason why he can't get out, and it's one of the reasons why Americans are more disapproving of Israel now than ever.

All right, let me play the next clip for you, and this one, it's in English also.

I don't need to do translation.

Very, very interesting. I listen to it and it makes sense.

Take a listen, please.

And understand Trump so much better than he understands them. They've been studying this guy. They know exactly what gets him going, what his pressure points are, what his pain points are. Trump, he has no one with him actually who does remotely understand the Iranian mindset. And when you think about sort of his war group, I mean, he's got Pete Hegseth, the Fox News host, um, you know, he's got, uh, the guy who builds shopping malls in New Jersey, which is, you know, Steve Witkoff, his son-in-law Jared Kushner. Tell me, amongst that group, who really understands anything about the Iranian mindset. They don't.

You just have to look at the end result, and so far it's 180 degrees different to what they expected. And you mentioned, uh, Steve Whitkoff. I am still stuck in the shock of what he told Fox News a few days before the war began, which is President Trump is frustrated that the amount of military assets we've sent to the Gulf have not caused the Iranians to capitulate. He literally used those two words, frustrated about non-capitulation.

Why they haven't capitulated?

Anybody could have told him, anybody, this regime in Iran does not capitulate and they would rather go down fighting than capitulating. So there and then, as you're meant to be negotiating to avoid this war, they don't get it.

Which is true. And that's, I remember when I wrote my Iran book, I did a whole chapter about the history of Iran from way back. And I've argued in it that the West is, is, cannot fathom the depth of the history of the Persian Empire and will have a hard time understanding it because what the media has been saying about just a long bearded man with a foot-long beard and all that stuff. I said no, Iran is not that. Iran is not that. And now the war has proved it so. Uh, my next clip is about— we're going to move to East, into Asia, and to tie it to what I said about earlier, uh, for why Israel is trying to encircle Iran, uh, it's, uh, uh, the, the US is trying to do the same.

In—

did you know, despite a $660 billion annual trade partnership with China, the US maintains over 200 military installations and 100,000 troops encircling its largest economic rival. In Japan, 55,000 troops are stationed across 100 installations, including Kadena, the largest airbase in Asia, and the mighty Seventh Fleet at Yokosuka. Cross the sea to South Korea, where 28,500 soldiers stand on permanent alert. To the south, the Philippines has opened 9 strategic bases to American forces, tightening the grip on the South China Sea. On the fortress island of Guam, another 10,000 troops wait in reserve, ready to deploy at a moment's notice. In Singapore, the U.S. operates a critical naval hub, guarding the Strait of Malacca, the world's most vital trade artery. From the AUKUS pact in Australia to the shores of Okinawa, Washington isn't just watching the East,— it's surrounding it. A delicate balance of massive trade and total military dominance.

All right, and the last one I'm gonna share with you is with North Korea. I found it very interesting. And again, the reason I share all this with you is to put things in perspective for you. Please take a listen here.

Just did the unthinkable, and this is giving the US and South Korea nightmares. After Israel's killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran and the U.S. Special Forces operation that removed Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro, Pyongyang reportedly rewrote its nuclear doctrine to protect Kim Jong-un from the same fate. The new rule says if North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un or country's nuclear command system is endangered by a hostile attack, a nuclear strike must be launched, automatically and immediately. In simple words, North Korea is building a nuclear dead man's switch. That means even if Kim is assassinated, even if command centers are hit, even if the leadership is targeted, Pyongyang wants its enemies to believe nuclear retaliation would still happen. This changes the entire calculation for Washington and Seoul. A decapitation strike is no longer just risky, it could become catastrophic. North Korea is sending one message: remove Kim and the whole region could burn.

And once again, that is the my point of why the US now is— has refrained completely from provoking or antagonizing North Koreans. That is the exact reason.

Why that is.

Uh, I want to just say thank you to some and update you on the Asia trip because we are, uh, first of all, I want to say thank you to Marvin Brando.

Thank you so much for your super sticker. You wrote, still today Iran refuses to build nukes, sad. Thanks, Dr. O.

Uh, yeah, on— there is a conversation and I'm here to tell you, Marvin, There is a conversation, and I get it on good authority inside Iran, that they are— change ain't gonna happen quickly because to them it will be like almost disrespect for the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. But his son, Mojtaba, Mojtaba is moving into that direction. But there is a lot of back and forth, uh, how they're gonna go about it. But the conversation is changing inside Iran. As to time has come to build the bomb.

That is exactly so.

So I want to say just thank you for your, uh, super sticker, uh, for, uh, in support of the channel. I also want to give shout out to, uh, the RA Latina. Thank you for becoming a member of the channel.

Your support is greatly appreciated.

I'll take this opportunity to say thank you to Sam, uh, I don't like to use the full name because I didn't get the permission.

So I'm just going to use the first name.

Thank you, Sam, and thank you for your message.

Sam sent me a private message, so it's a private—

I will not share it. All I can share is Sam is a veteran.

That's all I can say. So thank you so much, and I will follow up on what you, uh, stated in your, uh, in your message.

So, so if you want to support— and by the way, the, the donation— Sam donated a generous donation in support of my upcoming trip to Asia.

I just want you to be aware of that.

So, and that puts us in—

I want to show you where we are in the fundraising so far.

We are about 47%, so, uh, we still have, uh, we still have a long way to go to reach the $10,000 mark.

That's the objective or the goal. Given the locations that I intend to go and report to you from. So, uh, but we're—

it's getting there.

So, and thank you to the generosity of the other donors that wants to remain anonymous. So, so should you decide to support the channel or support my upcoming Asia trip, rather, once again, here is the link for it should you decide to do that.

So I'm also, uh, in the process of writing my upcoming book about China, believe it or not.

Yes, you will be the first to know, and I will share an excerpt with you first, uh, after the government clears the book, because I have to clear it through the government.

So, uh, to those who might want to be considered, uh, getting copies of my, uh, of, of my books Uh, here is the link for it.

You can, you can, uh, you can pick whatever book you want. And so, so I will greatly, greatly appreciate that.

And the last one I want to share the link is the, uh, the one for the channel.

Should you decide to support the channel, uh, you can buy me coffee here.

And remember, as I mentioned, the funding for the trip is separate from the funding for the channel.

So I keep things separately for the sake of transparency. And, and that's what, you know, of course I will use some of money from my own pocket also in support of my upcoming Asia trip, and I always do. I'm grateful for the support, but I do add from my own pocket as well.

So I hope you enjoyed this. By the way, before I forget, the next stories I'm gonna be working on for you. There is one development going on in Morocco, and this has to do with Morocco becoming the largest arms importer in Africa. Is there something, a looming danger on the horizon, given that today the Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergey Lavrov, is in Rabat, the capital of Morocco? So I'm going to be looking into this for you. The other topic which I mentioned to you last time, uh, about, uh, uh, when I mentioned that, uh, Iranian— Iran's allies mobilizes a massive naval fleet to support Iran. You all remember I mentioned this about a week and a half ago, and I said I will look into this. Well, guess what? There is no evidence of this massive naval fleet being mobilized by Iran's allies. So why am I saying this to you? I want you to be careful with the videos established by AI, with those images of the Russians and Chinese and North Koreans' naval, whatever. Don't fall for that. Don't fall for that, because that's what makes you a good consumer of news. Is when you filter. There is now great concern of this misleading information on YouTube stuff, you know. Of course, if something factual, you report on it, because you have the political polarization that is going on, you have the impact of artificial intelligence, you have the media landscape. So, and this is why, uh, even for us here in the US, even Americans As some of us, as lazy as we are intellectually because we are poor readers of history, they are now changing how we consume the news. You know, some people in America are becoming skeptical, try to verify information and seek multiple balanced sources before forming an opinion. And that is exactly what I do in this channel. For you, for our community.

That's the purpose of it, you know.

And I said, you know, that's why I kind of didn't like the comment last time of the person who's saying, well, Dr. O, you're late for that. I'm late for this because of a reason. I don't want just tell the community whatever. So when I checked and double-checked on this break-ins, because he was almost saying on the news elsewhere as breaking, Iran's, uh, allies mobilize. I found no evidence whatsoever. And digging deeper enough, I found that it was an AI-generated video from someone. That's why I don't watch YouTube, uh, stuff.

I, I don't.

I do YouTube videos for the community based on what I know, but for me to go and just watch, I don't, because I, I know what to look for.

So, so I want you just to be aware of this.

Hope you enjoy this. I will be working on, on another story for you, uh, uh, for tomorrow. But remember to join me tonight, uh, don't forget my upcoming conversation with, uh, my dear friend Warwick Powell.

We will be talking about this today.

And the last thing is, uh, I want to share with you, uh, Substack, uh, article that I just wrote last night, yesterday. Uh, let me, let me get the link for you. It will be worth your time to read if you want it. Uh, okay, now this one here, we're gonna be at, uh, 7:30, uh, 19:30, uh, Central Standard Time. It will be 10:30 AM the next day in Brisbane, Australia.

That's, that's where Warrick is going to be.

So, and the article that I wrote, I wrote it about this. So you need to take a look.

Uh, let me get you the link here, guys. Copy link, and I'm gonna put it in the chat box for you if you want to.

And by the way, please make sure to subscribe to Substack. That we reached 100 subscribers as of yesterday. So, and again, it's just for the sake of knowledge, no more, no less.

Uh, and I look forward to seeing you soon.

All right, hope to see you at 19:30. As always, remember, geopolitics impacts your daily life in more ways than one. Till next time, bye-bye.