This country has been having a nationwide nervous breakdown since 9/11. A nation of people suddenly broke, the market economy goes to shit, and they’re threatened on every side by an unknown, sinister enemy. But I don't think fear is a very effective way of dealing with things—of responding to reality. Fear is just another word for ignorance.”

- Hunter S. Thompson, gonzo journalist

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Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said on Thursday that 66 US military personnel have been injured in a spree of attacks on bases in Iraq and Syria.

The vicinity of the US Embassy in the specially protected Green Zone in the center of Baghdad has come under rocket fire, a source in the Iraqi security forces told local media.

The source said explosions were heard near the embassy.

For a second time within hours, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq announced on Wednesday targeting the Ain al-Assad US occupation base in al-Anbar Governorate in western Iraq with a drone in response to the crimes of Israeli occupation in Gaza and the American support for it.

Earlier, the Islamic Resistance announced that it targeted the same occupation base.

Joe Biden, in concert with American public opinion, soured on the long U.S. military disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan and finally withdrew U.S. forces from the two-decade disaster in Afghanistan, even though other prior presidents lacked the courage to carry out what was likely to be—and was—a messy exit.

Israel dominates the global media to an almost unseen extent. Only almost, because one event 22 years ago surpassed everything else in terms of media hype: 9/11. What both events have in common is that politicians and the media ruthlessly exploit people’s shock to achieve their goals or to generate clicks and thus rake in money. Most articles have one thing in common: they are based on emotions. We write about geopolitics. Geopolitical analyses must be based on facts.

Over the weekend Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin explained to the American people what’s really wrong with US foreign policy. Some might find his conclusions surprising.

Sen. Rand Paul is planning to force a vote on a resolution he introduced to withdraw all US troops from Syria, as US bases in the country have come under frequent attack since mid-October, Responsible Statecraft reported on Wednesday.

Preliminary estimates suggested that Iraq’s Eridu oil field holds between 7-10 billion barrels of reserves.

Senior Russian oil industry sources spoken to exclusively by OilPrice.com last week said the true figure may well be 50 percent more than the higher figure of that band. In either event, the Eridu field - part of Iraq’s Block 10 exploration and development region – is the biggest oil find in Iraq in the last 20 years, and Russia wants to control all of it, alongside its chief geopolitical ally, China.

U.S. military outposts in Iraq and Syria are plagued by thefts of weapons and equipment, according to exclusive documents obtained by The Intercept that show militias and criminal gangs are systematically targeting U.S. forces.

Washington's military presence in the countries does not contribute to Middle Eastern peace but makes American soldiers a target, a new Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft report has concluded.