cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7518423

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/24135

Caracas, January 30, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The Venezuelan National Assembly has approved a sweeping reform of the country’s 2001 Hydrocarbon Law that rolls back the state’s role in the energy sector in favor of private capital.

Legislators unanimously endorsed the bill at its second discussion on Thursday, with only opposition deputy Henrique Capriles abstaining. The legislative overhaul follows years of US sanctions against the Venezuelan oil industry and a naval blockade imposed in December.

National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez hailed the vote a “historic day” and claimed the new bill will lead oil production to “skyrocket.”

“The reform will make the oil sector much more competitive for national and foreign corporations to extract crude,” he told reporters. “We are implementing mechanisms that have proven very successful.”

Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodríguez signed and enacted the law after the parliamentary session, claiming that the industry will be guided by “the best international practices” and undertake a “historic leap forward.”

Former President Hugo Chávez revamped the country’s oil legislation in 2001 and introduced further reforms in 2006 and 2007 to assert the Venezuelan state’s primacy over the industry. Policies included a mandatory stakeholding majority for state oil company PDVSA in joint ventures, PDVSA control over operations and sales, and increased royalties and income tax to 30 and 50 percent, respectively. Increased oil revenues bankrolled the Venezuelan government’s expanded social programs in the 2000s.

The text approved during Thursday’s legislative session, following meetings between Venezuelan authorities and oil executives, went further than the draft preliminarily endorsed one week earlier.

The final version of the legislation establishes 30 percent as an upper bound for royalties, with the Venezuelan government given the discretionary power to determine the rate for each project. A 33 percent extraction tax in the present law was scrapped in favor of an “integrated hydrocarbon tax” to be set by the executive with a 15 percent limit.

Similarly, the Venezuelan government can reduce income taxes for companies involved in oil activities while also granting several other fiscal exemptions. The bill cites the “need to ensure international competitiveness” as a factor to be considered when decreasing royalty and tax demands for private corporations.

The reform additionally grants operational and sales control to minority partners and private contractors. PDVSA can furthermore lease out oilfields and projects in exchange for a fixed portion of extracted crude. The new legislation likewise allows disputes to be settled by outside arbitration instances.

Thursday’s legislative reform was immediately followed by a US Treasury general license allowing US corporations to re-engage with the Venezuelan oil sector.

General License 46 (GL46) authorizes US firms to purchase and market Venezuelan crude while demanding that contracts be subjected to US jurisdiction so potential disputes are referred to US courts. The license bars transactions with companies from Russia, Iran, North Korea, or Cuba. Concerning China, it only blocks dealings with Venezuelan joint ventures with Chinese involvement.

Economist Francisco Rodríguez pointed out that the sanctions waiver does not explicitly allow for production or investment and that companies would require an additional license before signing contracts with Venezuelan authorities.

GL46 also mandates that payments to blocked agents, including PDVSA, be made to the US Foreign Government Deposit Funds or another account defined by the US Treasury Department.

Following the January 3 military strikes and kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration has vowed to take control of the Venezuelan oil industry by administering crude transactions. Proceeds from initial sales have been deposited in US-run bank accounts in Qatar, with a portion rerouted to Caracas for forex injections run by private banks. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed that the resources will begin to be channeled to US Treasury accounts in the near future.

In a press conference on Friday, Trump said his administration is “very happy” with the actions of Venezuelan authorities and would soon invite other countries to get involved in the Caribbean nation’s oil industry. Rubio had previously argued that Caracas “deserved credit” for the oil reform that “eradicates Chávez-era restrictions on private investments.”

Despite the White House’s calls for substantial investment, Western oil corporations have expressed reservations over major projects in the Venezuelan energy sector. Chevron, the largest US company operating in the country, stated that it is looking to fund increased production with revenues from oil sales as opposed to new capital commitments.

Since 2017, Venezuela’s oil industry has been under wide-reaching US unilateral coercive measures, including financial sanctions and an export embargo, in an effort to strangle the country’s most important revenue source. The US Treasury Department has also levied and threatened secondary sanctions against third-country companies to deter involvement in the Venezuelan petroleum sector.

The post Venezuela Approves Pro-Business Oil Reform as Trump Issues New Sanctions Waiver appeared first on Venezuelanalysis.

From Venezuelanalysis via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7519009

Snip:

The Sao Paulo Forum condemned the new measure imposed by the US administration against Cuba on Friday, January 30, calling it “absurd coercion.”

[...]

The measure responds to an executive order signed by the US president declaring a national emergency and establishing tariffs on goods from countries that sell or supply oil to Cuba.

This action represents an intensification of the blockade, which has lasted for more than six decades, and is part of Washington’s maximum pressure policy against the island, justified under false pretenses of US national security interests and foreign policy.

Faced with this scenario, the Sao Paulo Forum called on defenders of the sovereignty of nations to act immediately in defense of Cuba.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7517754

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/24289

Iran will defend its people decisively if it is pushed to war, reiterated Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday, January 29, after American President Donald Trump’s repeated ultimatums and threats of military strikes in the country.

“If the American side is truly seeking negotiations and genuine diplomacy it must abandon provocative and escalatory measures and demonstrate in practice its commitment to the path of dialogue,” Pezeshkian told his Pakistani counterparts, Shehbaz Sherif and Qatari Sheikh Hamad Bin Thani, during separate phone conversations.

After softening his initial threats of military strikes over the Iranian crackdown of nationwide protests earlier, Trump renewed his threats against Iran this week despite widespread opposition to any such move expressed by the leaders from the Middle East region over the fears of wider regional consequences.

In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump asked Iran to submit to his demand and make a deal on “no nuclear weapons”, immediately claiming “time is running out”. He threatened that if Iran fails to comply with the demands the strikes this time would be “far worse” than the strikes in June.

Iran responded to the threats made by Trump warning that its responses to aggression inside the country would not be limited and all American assets in the region, including the warships and Israel, would be targeted.

No talks under threats of war

During a press conference on Thursday, Trump repeated his threats while also expressing his willingness to talk.

“We have a lot of very big, very powerful ships sailing to the region right now. Hopefully, we don’t have to use it,” Reuters reported Trump telling the press on Thursday.

Iran has maintained, for years now, that it has no intention to have nuclear weapons and its nuclear program is for peaceful civilian purposes only. It has also expressed its openness for dialogue on the issue, however, refusing to talk under threats of war.

Pezeshkian reiterated on Thursday that his country believes in “dignified diplomacy based on international laws, mutual respect, avoidance of threats and coercion and pursuit of win-win outcomes.”

Changes of a successful diplomacy between Iran and the US have also gone down since the inclusion of fresh demands. Apart from asking Iran to denounce any nuclear ambitions the Trump administration also wants it to agree to restrictions on its ballistic missiles programs and end all support to its regional allies identified as “proxies”.

Regional diplomacy

After Pezeshkian’s conversations with his Pakistani counterpart and Qatari Sheikh, similar phone conversations were held by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi with his counterparts in several other countries in the region and neighborhood, including Turkey and Egypt on Thursday and Friday.

The US has military bases in most of these countries. Iran has declared that in case it is attacked these bases would become legitimate targets of Iranian retaliation.

Several of these countries including Saudi Arabia and UAE have already declared they will not allow their territories to be used in any military strike against Iran.

Meanwhile, Araghchi traveled to Turkey to discuss the issue with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday.

Most of the countries in the region, including Turkey have opposed possible US military aggression against Iran claiming that would have larger regional consequences. They have called for political resolution of differences instead.

EU sanctions

Meanwhile, close US ally European Union (EU) imposed fresh sanctions on several Iranian officials and designated its Islamic Revolutionary Guard’s Corp as a “terrorist organization” on Thursday.

The EU accused the individuals and IRGC of “serious human rights violations” and “killing thousands of protesters” during the recent nationwide protests.

Iran has called the EU’s move “spiteful, hasty and desperate” and “legally inconsistent with international law.”

Over 3,100 Iranians, including civilians and security forces, were killed during weeks-long protests which began over rising economic hardships in the country. Iran claims the protests were hijacked by foreign elements backed by Israel and the US seeking regime change in the country.

Reacting to the EU’s sanctions on Thursday, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian parliament questioned their understanding of terrorism, claiming the IRGC is “one of the strongest and most effective anti-terrorism forces in the world.”

He also claimed that “only those who stand with terrorism deny the IRGC’s record in combating Daesh” or ISIS as it is commonly known and warned that support of terrorism will bring nothing but regret to the European countries, IRNA reported.

The EU has already imposed several sanctions on Iranian entities over Iran’s alleged violations of, now expired nuclear deal, its alleged supply of weapons to Russia and its human rights violations.

The post Iran says if attacked militarily, its response will not be “limited” appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/42511363

Donald Trump’s latest executive order allows the U.S. to impose additional tariffs on countries that ship oil to Cuba, deepening the economic siege on the island.

The result isn’t abstract policy. It’s collective punishment: blackouts, long gas lines, delayed medical care and families struggling to get through the day.

We’re in Havana asking Cubans about the new measures and about what life looks like when fuel, electricity and transportation begin to disappear.

Cuba has already been suffering increasing fuel shortages since the U.S. blocked all oil going to the island from Venezuela. In recent weeks, power outages in Havana have increased.

Stay tuned for more reporting from Cuba.

A declassified FBI memo from the Epstein files, released on Friday, includes incendiary allegations about US President Donald Trump.

The memo says that Trump was “compromised by Israel”, that convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein worked with Israeli intelligence, and that a Jewish religious group calling itself Chabad-Lubavitch sought to hijack his first term in office.

The memo, written in 2020, formed part of an FBI investigation into domestic or foreign influence over the US electoral process. It draws on information from a confidential human source (CHS) and appears among a vast trove of Epstein-related files released by the US Justice Department.

Chabad-Lubavitch, a religious Jewish sect founded in Russia, has grown to an estimated 90,000 members. Its messianic, ultra-Orthodox ideology has repeatedly been linked to hardline settler colonial politics in Palestine.

The memo also cites Berel Lazar, a Chabad member and the former chief rabbi of Russia, describing him as a close adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Chabad is basically state-sanctioned Judaism. It is used by Putin to keep tabs on all the Russo-Jewish oligarchs,” the FBI memo adds.

The source goes further, saying: “Trump has been compromised by Israel. And Kushner is the real brains behind his organization and his Presidency.”

NAziTO strikes agin

The Kurdish People must decide their own destiny, the siege must end! The Kurdish forces, who for years have been fighting to stop the atrocities of ISIS in Syria, a key country in the Middle East, have been continuously and progressively cornered and strangled ever since the rise to power of the Al-Shaara regime which is a remnant of Al-Qaeda and ISIS. The agreement of March 10th, signed between the PYD (Democratic Union Party, active in the Autonomous Administration of North-East Syria, also known as North-East Syria or Rojava) and the Al-Shaara regime, which was allowed to “mature” until the new year, has increasingly been used as a sword against the Kurds. Starting from the beginning of 2026, Syrian military forces, along with gangs from the civil-war era and Turkish-backed Syrian National Army forces (of the Al-Shaara regime), have begun attacking residential areas of Aleppo, expelling Kurds from two neighborhoods and, advancing from Raqqa, have encircled Rojava. The objective of these attacks are to destroy and drown in blood the Kurdish self administrative system formed in Rojava in 2012 and to crush the Kurdish resistance. The elimination of Rojava is one of the greatest ambition of the Erdoğan regime as well, which has launched the so-called “Turkey free from terrorism” campaign domestically. Turkey is now imposing its will on the Kurdish people in Syria (to “get rid of Rojava”) in order to further advance its strategy of becoming a regional power, while engaging in so-called shuttle diplomacy between the United States and the Al-Assad regime. The attacks on and siege of Rojava, which the state and capitalist controlled media are portraying as a victory for Erdoğan, demonstrate a recurring pattern of betrayal against the Kurds. Behind this lies a sell-out agreement, emerging as local and international powers gradually reshape the region through negotiations and force on the ground. ISIS forces, now aligned with the US to dismantle Rojava’s status; US imperialism, which continues to cooperate with ISIS by claiming to fight it; the Turkish government, which encourages armed gangs and declares Al-Shaara a brother; and reactionary Middle Eastern dictatorships are all descending upon Rojava together. And the appointed colonial governor, and American billionaire, Tom Barrack, is busy coordinating this united front. Rojava belongs to the people of Rojava, and the fate of the region must be determined by all the peoples who live there. Our party stands with the people of Rojava, whose homeland was established and protected at the cost of the lives of the Kurdish people. We must not remain silent in the face of the massacre of the Kurds in Rojava; the demands of the Kurdish people must be recognized, and the siege must end.

Crosspost from https://news.abolish.capital/post/24300

At least 29 Palestinians, including at least six children, have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza City and Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip since dawn, according to medical sources speaking to Al Jazeera.

The violence comes a day before Israel is due to reopen the Rafah crossing, which links Gaza with Egypt, on Sunday for the first time since May 2024.

Mahmoud Basal, the spokesman of the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza, has told Al Jazeera that most of those killed in Israeli attacks today are children.

Title

I don’t criticize Iran because I do not want to feed into an imperial war propaganda campaign for a horrific agenda that I do not support. I want to focus my criticisms on the power structure under which I actually live, because that is what one does when one is not a groveling bootlicker, and because the power structure under which I live happens to be the most abusive tyrant on the world stage.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/42482294

During the Operation Sindoor of Indian Military on Pakistan, a chinese PL-15 missile was reported to been shot by Pakistani Fighter Jet but did neither did it hit its target nor did it blast on impact, hence it was confiscated by India as it fell in Indian territory.

Since then, there have been claims that India has reverse engineered it to upgrade its existing Astra air-to-air missile system.

The claims have been shut down by Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE), a key pillar of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), claiming that this is completely the result of Indigenous advancements and not some stolen tech. He emphasized that the work on extending range of Astra Mk-1 from 110Km to 160Km and Astra Mk-2 from 160Km to 240Km was on priority from the very start and denied any such claims of reverse engineering.

What do you think? Join our community "BharatDefense" to support us. A humble request to all Indians and people who enjoy our content.

Jai Hind

Final shepherd community displaced from southern Jordan Valley. Another newborn dies of exposure to the cold in Gaza. Gaza’s health ministry calls for the opening of Rafah crossing with over 20,000 Palestinians in need of medical evacuation. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will not allow Gaza reconstruction. Hamas says Phase One commitments are fulfilled and will discuss disarmament. The UN gives updates on Gaza and the West Bank. Border Patrol “Commander-at-Large” Gregory Bovino to leave Minnesota as leadership shifts to “Border Czar” Tom Homan. House Democrats move to investigate U.S. Secretary Kristi Noem amid immigration crackdown. FBI probes Signal chats tracking immigration agents. Maine opens a tip line to document federal agent misconduct, as U.S. Senator for Maine Susan Collins backs DHS funding. U.S. carrier strike group arrives in Middle East amid escalated U.S. tensions with Iran. Kaiser nurses launch an “indefinite” strike action in California and Hawaii. Top House Democrat defends health insurers. Siege on Dilling breaks in South Kordofan, as the Sudanese Armed Forces gains control of Alsilak. Lebanon files UN complaint over ceasefire violations. Syrian Army–SDF ceasefire largely holds, as both parties trade accusations of breaches. Al Shabaab attack kills two in northeastern Kenya.

U.S. Agency for International Development staffers in early 2024 drafted a warning to senior officials in Joe Biden’s administration: Northern Gaza had turned into an “Apocalyptic Wasteland” with dire shortages of food and medical aid.

Three months after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and Israel's incursion into the Gaza Strip, the internal message laid out in gruesome detail scenes observed by United Nations staff who visited the area on a two-part humanitarian fact-finding mission in January and February.

The staff reported seeing a human femur and other bones on the roads, dead bodies abandoned in cars and “catastrophic human needs, particularly for food and safe drinking water.”

But the U.S. ambassador to Jerusalem, Jack Lew, and his deputy, Stephanie Hallett, blocked the cable from wider distribution within the United States government because they believed it lacked balance, according to interviews with four former officials and documents seen by Reuters.

[...]

Reuters saw one of those cables. The other four, also blocked by Lew and Hallett because of their concerns about balance, were described by four former officials.

Three former U.S. officials said that the descriptions were unusually graphic and would have commanded the attention of senior U.S. officials had the message been widely circulated within Joe Biden’s administration.

It would have also deepened scrutiny of a National Security Memorandum, issued by Biden that month, which conditioned the supply of U.S. intelligence and weapons on Israel’s compliance with international law, they said.

"While cables weren't the only means of providing humanitarian information ... they would have represented an acknowledgement by the ambassador of the reality of the situation in Gaza,” said Andrew Hall, then a crisis operations specialist for USAID.

The U.S. embassy in Jerusalem oversaw the language and distribution of most of the cables about Gaza, including those from other embassies in the region.

One former senior official said Lew and Hallett often told USAID leadership that the cables included information that had been widely reported in the media.

Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken and representatives for former President Joe Biden did not respond to requests for comment about the fact that the cables never reached upper leadership of the U.S. government.

Thomas Graham in Tijuana and Ruaridh Nicoll in Havana
Fri 30 Jan 2026 13.08 EST

Sheinbaum’s comments came after a week of increasing threats from Washington. US officials briefed that gunboats could be deployed off Cuba, and said efforts were under way to find Cuban ministers prepared to collaborate with the US.

Speaking on Wednesday, Mike Hammer, the US chargé d’affaires in Havana, said: “The Cubans have complained for years about a ‘blockade’, but now there is going to be a real blockade.”

Israeli attacks on Gaza continue in violation of ceasefire. Hamas urges civil servants to cooperate with the U.S.-backed National Committee for the Administration of Gaza as governance transition looms. Egypt prepares partial reopening of Rafah crossing amid mounting medical crisis. President Donald Trump’s senior advisor Jared Kushner calls for a shift to a “free market” approach to humanitarian aid, as the World Food Program warns Israel is blocking that transition. The Israeli high court again delays ruling on foreign journalists’ entry into Gaza, and says, in separate ruling, that it will continue blocking medical evacuations to the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu vows to disarm Hamas and impose Gaza demilitarization “no matter the cost.” West Bank settlers launch a large-scale attack on Masafer Yatta village. Rep. Ilhan Omar assaulted and sprayed with an unknown substance during town hall. Tillis and Murkowski become first GOP senators to call for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s resignation. DHS tracked and documented Minneapolis protesters, including Alex Pretti before he was killed. NYPD arrests dozens with counter-terrorism police unit at an anti-ICE protest inside Manhattan hotel. Murphy declines to back abolishing ICE. Russian forces begin partial withdrawal from Qamishli as UN aid arrives. Israeli strike kills TV presenter in Tyre. Lebanese politician Gebran Bassil says Free Patriotic Movement–Hezbollah alliance has collapsed. The UN warns of a major crisis in Jonglei amid mass displacement and cholera. Russian strikes kill 12 people in Ukraine amid peace talks. European rearmament accelerates as Trump’s Greenland remarks revive NATO doubts. Boko Haram ambush kills seven soldiers, captures commanding officer in Nigeria’s Borno State.

Senior U.S. military officials have informed the leadership of a key U.S. ally in the Middle East that President Donald Trump could authorize a U.S. attack on Iran this weekend, multiple sources have confirmed to Drop Site News. Strikes could commence as early as Sunday, the ally was informed, if the U.S. decides to move forward.

“This isn’t about the nukes or the missile program. This is about regime change,” said a former senior U.S. intelligence official who consults for Arab governments and is an informal advisor to the Trump administration on Middle East policy.

He told Drop Site that U.S. war planners envision attacks that target nuclear, ballistic, and other military sites around Iran, but will also aim to decapitate the Iranian government, and in particular the leadership and capabilities of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The IRGC is a branch of the Iranian armed forces created after the country’s 1979 revolution whose leadership now plays a major role in the country’s politics and economy.

Two senior Arab intelligence officials told Drop Site that they received word a U.S. attack could come “imminently.”

Correction - this is Jan. 30 issue, not Jan. 29

Israeli forces launch airstrikes, killing three people in southern Gaza and two people in central Gaza. President Donald Trump and U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff claim Hamas will disarm, while Hamas has said no negotiations have taken place. Gaza nurse describes detention and abuse of physician father. Trump and Senate Democrats strike last-minute deal to avert government shutdown. A Trump order escalates sanctions, as Cuba faces an acute fuel crisis. Texas police fire chemical agents at protest over child detention in Dilley. Human rights organization DAWN launches legal challenge to NYC’s Israel Bond investments, as rift grows between Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Comptroller Mark Levine. Sen. Rick Scott rejects DHS funding motion amid ICE criticism. Sen. John Fetterman backs Israel despite ceasefire violations. ICE arrest shatters car window, leaves asylum-seeking mother and infant stranded in Portland. Trump threatens 50% tariff on Canadian aircraft amid escalating trade dispute. New CNN analysis confirms Drop Site’s video analysis that a federal agent fired multiple shots at Alex Pretti after he was incapacitated. The Trump administration moves to convert warehouses into immigration jails in what could be the largest expansion of detention capacity in U.S. history. Fighting erupts between Ethiopian troops and Tigray forces. UN food agency halts aid in Houthi-held northern Yemen. Canada rebukes the U.S. over contact with Alberta separatists. Trump says Putin agreed to pause strikes on Ukrainian cities amid deep freeze. Mohammed bin Salman meets Hillary Clinton in Riyadh.

15 Palestinians arrived at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza on Thursday after being released by Israeli authorities through the Red Cross. The Israeli military has reportedly accepted the Gaza Health Ministry’s casualty counts of over 71,667 Palestinians killed since October 7, 2023, with thousands still unaccounted for and buried under the rubble. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair urges Palestinian members of Gaza’s transitional body to avoid politics. UN discusses Gaza “turning point” amid ongoing Israeli attacks. Hamas says Israel delayed the recovery of the remains of the final Israeli captive despite prior notice. Gaza City faces imminent collapse of water services. Five Palestinian detainees are released to Gaza after months of Israeli detention. Secretary of State Marco Rubio defends Venezuela operation kidnapping Nicolás Maduro as “law enforcement” and details plans to control Venezuela’s domestic expenditures. Rubio says the U.S. is reinforcing Middle East posture as Trump weighs action against Iran. Minnesota judge rebukes ICE for widespread defiance of court orders. Springfield officials brace for ICE surge as Haitian TPS nears expiration. House Democrats are advised not to travel to Minnesota. ICE shifts to “targeted” arrests in Minnesota after deadly clashes. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani backs dismantling the Strategic Response Group counterterrorism unit after it made anti-ICE arrests. Sudan army says it recaptured Al-Sillik amid cross-border fighting in Blue Nile. UN warns of crisis in Dilling as displacement surges across Sudan, as RSF drone strike kills civilians in Dilling and siege pressure resumes. Report traces RSF rifles to covert UAE-backed arms pipeline via Yemen and Somalia. Turkey arrests six on suspicion of spying for Iran amid regional tensions. Search launched for missing plane in northeast Colombia. Ecuador raids homes of leftist politicians in alleged Venezuela campaign funds probe. Gunfire and explosions reported near Niamey airport in Niger. Police fire tear gas at Makoko residents protesting demolitions in Lagos. Police officers killed in ambush amid surge in northwest Nigeria attacks. China executes 11 members of Myanmar-based telecom fraud gangs. France grounds suspected Russian “shadow fleet” oil tanker in Marseille.